Crown Castle: 3Q Earnings Snapshot

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

The real estate investment trust, based in Houston, said it had funds from operations of $668 million, or $1.56 per share, in the period.

The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of $1.55 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 $163 million, or 38 cents per share.

The operator of wireless communications towers, based in Houston, posted revenue of $1.49 billion in the period, missing Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.5 billion.

Crown Castle expects full-year funds from operations in the range of $6.07 to $6.11 per share.

The company's shares have increased 15% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed slightly more than 6%. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $163.79, a rise of 14% in the last 12 months.

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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