LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Cathay General Bancorp (CATY) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter net income of $67.4 million.

The Los Angeles-based bank said it had earnings of 84 cents per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 83 cents per share.

The holding company for Cathay Bank posted revenue of $199.9 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $149.9 million, missing Street forecasts.

For the year, the company reported profit of $279.1 million, or $3.48 per share. Revenue was reported as $619.7 million.

Cathay shares have declined 2% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $37.20, increasing slightly 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 CATY at https://www.zacks.com/ap/CATY

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News