Navient reports fourth quarter earnings

(AP) _ Navient Corp. (NAVI) on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter net income of $72 million, after reporting a loss in the same period a year earlier.

On a per-share basis, the Wilmington, Delaware-based company said it had profit of 28 cents. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, were 58 cents per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 48 cents per share.

The student loan servicing company posted revenue of $1.42 billion in the period. Its adjusted revenue was $307 million, which did not meet Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $315.7 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $395 million, or $1.49 per share. Revenue was reported as $1.24 billion.

Navient shares have risen 23 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has climbed 5 percent. In the final minutes of trading on Tuesday, shares hit $10.85, a decline of 20 percent in the last 12 months.