DALLAS (AP) _ Kimberly-Clark Corp. (KMB) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter earnings of $547 million.

On a per-share basis, the Dallas-based company said it had profit of $1.59. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were $1.71 per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.70 per share.

The maker of consumer products such as Huggies diapers and Kleenex tissue posted revenue of $4.58 billion in the period, also surpassing Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $4.53 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $2.16 billion, or $6.24 per share. Revenue was reported as $18.45 billion.

Kimberly-Clark expects full-year earnings in the range of $7.10 to $7.35 per share.

Kimberly-Clark shares have risen 5% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed nearly 3%. The stock has climbed 26% 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 KMB at https://www.zacks.com/ap/KMB

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News