COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) _ Alliance Data Systems Corp. (ADS) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter profit of $17 million.

The Columbus, Ohio-based company said it had net income of 34 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted to account for discontinued operations, were $1.21 per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 47 cents per share.

The manager of loyalty and rewards programs for retailers and others posted revenue of $855 million in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $854.9 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $801 million, or $16.02 per share. Revenue was reported as $3.27 billion.

Alliance Data shares have decreased slightly since the beginning of the year, while the S&P's 500 index has increased 16%. The stock has decreased 3% 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 ADS at https://www.zacks.com/ap/ADS

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