BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (AP) _ Whirlpool Corp. (WHR) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter net income of $497 million.

The Benton Harbor, Michigan-based company said it had net income of $7.77 per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, came to $6.64 per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $6.39 per share.

The maker of Maytag, KitchenAid and other appliances posted revenue of $5.8 billion in the period, also topping Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $5.58 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $1.08 billion, or $17.07 per share. Revenue was reported as $19.46 billion.

Whirlpool expects full-year earnings in the range of $19 to $20 per share.

Whirlpool shares have climbed 18% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has stayed nearly flat. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $212.40, a climb of 43% 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 WHR at https://www.zacks.com/ap/WHR

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