WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (AP) _ Central Garden & Pet Co. (CENT) on Tuesday reported a fiscal first-quarter loss of $8.4 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.

On a per-share basis, the Walnut Creek, California-based company said it had a loss of 16 cents.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of 18 cents per share.

The maker of products for the pet supply and lawn and garden markets posted revenue of $627.7 million in the period, also topping Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $605.6 million.

Central Garden expects full-year earnings to be $2.60 to $2.80 per share.

Central Garden shares have climbed 12% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Tuesday, shares hit $42.10, a fall of slightly more than 9% 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 CENT at https://www.zacks.com/ap/CENT

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