PASADENA, Calif. (AP) _ East West Bancorp Inc. (EWBC) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter net income of $164.1 million.

The Pasadena, California-based bank said it had earnings of $1.15 per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.03 per share.

The bank holding company posted revenue of $451.2 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $416.4 million, also topping Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $389.8 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $567.8 million, or $3.97 per share. Revenue was reported as $1.61 billion.

East West Bancorp shares have increased 16% since the beginning of the year. The stock has climbed 24% 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

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