Crown Castle: Q4 Earnings Snapshot

HOUSTON (AP) — 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 $790 million, or $1.82 per share, in the period.

The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of $1.79 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 $361 million, or 83 cents per share.

The operator of wireless communications towers, based in Houston, posted revenue of $1.67 billion in the period, also topping Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.65 billion.

For the year, the company reported funds from operations of $3.28 billion. Revenue was reported as $6.98 billion.

Crown Castle expects full-year funds from operations in the range of $6.85 to $6.97 per share.

The company's shares have fallen slightly more than 8% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P's 500 index has risen 2%. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $105.56, a drop of 27% 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