(RTTNews) - International Drilling Contractor Atwood Oceanics Inc.(ATW: News ), Monday reported a decline in its fourth quarter profit on lower revenues.

The Houston, Texas-based company for the fourth quarter posted net income of $48.28 million or $0.75 per share, compared to $74.75 million or $1.16 per share in the comparable quarter last year.

On average, 12 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.69 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Quarterly revenue was down to $131.04 million from $160.65 million in the prior year quarter. Nine Wall Street analysts estimated revenue of $128.40 million for the quarter.

Operating income for the quarter declined to $60.0 million from $87.4 million in the prior year quarter, mainly due to a loss incurred on sale of equipments of $0.35 million from a gain of $0.05 million in the year ago period.
Interest expense grew to $0.64 million from $0.26 million and interest income decreased to $0.02 million from $0.10 million in the same quarter last year.

For the full year, the company reported net income of $250.74 million or $3.89 per share, an increase from $215.43 million or $3.34 per share in the prior year. Revenue for the full year rose to $586.50 million from $526.60 million last year.

ATW closed Monday's regular session at $37.96, up $0.97 or 2.62% on a volume of 1.03 million shares on the NYSE.

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by RTT Staff Writer

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