HOUSTON (AP) _ Crown Castle International Corp. (CCI) on Wednesday reported a key measure of profitability in its fourth quarter. The results surpassed Wall Street expectations.

The real estate investment trust, based in Houston, said it had funds from operations of $1.01 billion, or $2.33 per share, in the period.

The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of $1.65 per share.

Funds from operations is a closely watched measure in the REIT industry. It takes net income and adds back items such as depreciation and amortization.

The company said it had net income of $508 million, or $1.17 per share.

The operator of wireless communications towers, based in Houston, posted revenue of $1.49 billion in the period, which missed Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.52 billion.

For the year, the company reported funds from operations of $2.88 billion. Revenue was reported as $5.84 billion.

Crown Castle expects full-year funds from operations in the range of $6.64 to $6.74 per share.

The company's shares have risen slightly since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has stayed nearly flat. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $159.88, a rise of slightly more than 6% 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 CCI at https://www.zacks.com/ap/CCI

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