THE WOODLANDS, Texas (AP) _ Western Midstream Partners, LP (WES) on Tuesday reported a first-quarter loss of $251.4 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.

On a per-share basis, the The Woodlands, Texas-based company said it had a loss of 57 cents. Earnings, adjusted for asset impairment costs, came to 77 cents per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 50 cents per share.

The oil and gas transportation and storage company posted revenue of $774.3 million in the period.

Western Midstream shares have declined 60% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Tuesday, shares hit $7.88, a decrease of 73% 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 WES at https://www.zacks.com/ap/WES

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News