Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest gold producer, reported a fourth-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates as the precious metal’s price climbed to a record.

Net income of $215 million, or 21 cents a share, compares with a loss of $468 million, or 53 cents, a year earlier, Toronto-based Barrick said today in a statement. Excluding some items, Barrick earned 61 cents a share. Analysts expected profit of 57 cents, the average of 21 estimates in a Bloomberg survey.

Chief Executive Officer Aaron Regent is benefiting from gold prices that hit a record $1,227.50 an ounce on Dec. 3, driven by demand for a hedge against inflation and volatility in other markets. Barrick’s average realized gold price rose 38 percent to a record $1,119 an ounce in the period, helping sales climb 13 percent to $2.36 billion.

“The headline and the bottom line look decent -- it’s a beat versus the Street,” Steven Butler, an analyst at Canaccord Financial Inc. in Toronto, said in a telephone interview.

Barrick rose 47 cents, or 1.2 percent, to C$40.12 at 9:36 a.m. in Toronto Stock Exchange trading. The shares fell 4.4 percent this year before today. Gold futures for April delivery dropped $3.40 to $1,116.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Barrick said the total cash cost to produce an ounce of gold rose to $474 an ounce in the fourth quarter from $471 a year earlier.