BOSTON (AP) -- Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter net income of $32.9 million, after reporting a loss in the same period a year earlier.

On a per-share basis, the Boston-based company said it had profit of 13 cents. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were 35 cents per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 26 cents per share.

The drugmaker posted revenue of $458.7 million in the period, also topping Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $456.3 million.

For the year, the company reported that its loss narrowed to $112.1 million, or 46 cents per share. Revenue was reported as $1.7 billion.

Vertex shares have risen 16 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed almost 3 percent. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $85.19, a decline of 7.5 percent in the last 12 months.

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

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Keywords: Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Earnings Report