PASADENA, Calif. (AP) _ East West Bancorp Inc. (EWBC) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter net income of $188.2 million.

The bank, based in Pasadena, California, said it had earnings of $1.29 per share. Earnings, adjusted for asset impairment gains, were $1.28 per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.16 per share.

The bank holding company posted revenue of $530.2 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $431.2 million, which also beat Street forecasts.

For the year, the company reported profit of $674 million, or $4.61 per share. Revenue was reported as $1.68 billion.

East West Bancorp shares have dropped roughly 3% since the beginning of the year. The stock has decreased slightly more than 5% 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 EWBC at https://www.zacks.com/ap/EWBC

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News