CHICAGO (AP) _ United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL) on Wednesday reported a fourth-quarter loss of $1.9 billion, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.

On a per-share basis, the Chicago-based company said it had a loss of $6.39. Losses, adjusted for non-recurring gains, were $7 per share.

The results did not meet Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 19 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of $6.56 per share.

The airline posted revenue of $3.41 billion in the period, which also missed Street forecasts. Twelve analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $3.42 billion.

United shares have increased 4.5% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $45.18, a drop of 47% 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 UAL at https://www.zacks.com/ap/UAL

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