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NEW YORK (AP) — Rite Aid Corp. on Thursday reported a better-than-expected profit for its fourth quarter, but sales fell short of forecasts and a key sales measure declined. The Camp Hill, Pennsylvania company is in the process of being acquired by rival Walgreens for about $9.41 billion in cash. The deal is being reviewed by regulators and the companies said they expect it to close in the second half of the year. The drugstore chain reported a steep drop in net income to $65.6 million. That was down from $1.83 billion a year ago when its results reflected a $1.7 billion tax benefit. Its earnings per share, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 7 cents per share. That beat the average estimate of 6 cents per share by four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research. Revenue rose 21 percent to $8.27 billion in the period, but that fell short of Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $8.47 billion. Same-store sales, which is a key measure of a retailer's health, fell less than 1 percent overall on a mix of lower front end sales and generic drugs impacting the value of pharmaceutical sales. For the year, the company reported profit of $165.5 million, or 16 cents per share. Revenue was reported as $30.74 billion. Rite Aid shares slipped 3 cents to $8.10 in morning trading Thursday. They have increased roughly 4 percent since the beginning of the year. The stock has fallen almost 7 percent in the last 12 months. _____ Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on RAD at http://www.zacks.com/ap/RAD _____ Keywords: Rite Aid, Earnings Report

Rite Aid beats 4Q profit forecasts, sales miss expectations