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 Houston-based real estate investment trust said it had funds from operations of $768 million, or $1.77 per share, in the period.

The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of $1.71 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 $353 million, or 81 cents per share.

The operator of wireless communications towers, based in Houston, posted revenue of $1.65 billion in the period, also beating Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.63 billion.

For the year, the company reported funds from operations of $3.01 billion. Revenue was reported as $6.34 billion.

Crown Castle expects full-year funds from operations in the range of $7.31 to $7.41 per share.

The company's shares have decreased 15% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P's 500 index has increased 16%. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $176.90, a climb of 8% 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

Copyright by Automated Insights, Inc. All rights reserved., source Associated Press News