FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J. (AP) — FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J. (AP) — Becton Dickinson and Co. (BDX) on Thursday reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of $421 million.

On a per-share basis, the Franklin Lakes, New Jersey-based company said it had profit of $1.45. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to $3.81 per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $3.77 per share.

The medical device manufacturer posted revenue of $5.44 billion in the period, also surpassing Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $5.35 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $1.73 billion, or $5.93 per share. Revenue was reported as $20.25 billion.

Becton Dickinson expects full-year earnings in the range of $14.25 to $14.60 per share.

Becton Dickinson shares have dropped 1.5% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P's 500 index has climbed 24%. The stock has dropped slightly more than 7% 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 BDX at https://www.zacks.com/ap/BDX