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

The real estate investment trust, based in Houston, said it had funds from operations of $489 million, or $1.12 per share, in the period.

The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of $1.07 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 $294 million, or 67 cents per share.

The operator of wireless communications towers, based in Houston, posted revenue of $1.07 billion in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.05 billion.

For the year, the company reported funds from operations of $1.9 billion. Revenue was reported as $4.26 billion.

Crown Castle expects full-year funds from operations in the range of $4.38 to $4.49 per share.

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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