SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) on Wednesday reported third-quarter earnings of $2.04 billion.

The bank, based in San Francisco, said it had earnings of 42 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for restructuring costs, came to 56 cents per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 47 cents per share.

The biggest U.S. mortgage lender posted revenue of $20.29 billion in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $18.86 billion, which also beat Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $17.96 billion.

Wells Fargo shares have decreased 54% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen nearly 9%. The stock has fallen 50% in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on WFC at https://www.zacks.com/ap/WFC

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