ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — AvalonBay Communities Inc. (AVB) on Wednesday reported a key measure of profitability in its first quarter. The results beat Wall Street expectations.

The real estate investment trust, based in Arlington, Virginia, said it had funds from operations of $403.3 million, or $2.83 per share, in the period.

The average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of $2.80 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 $236.6 million, or $1.66 per share.

The apartment building owner posted revenue of $745.9 million in the period, which fell short of Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $747.3 million.

For the current quarter ending in June, AvalonBay expects its per-share funds from operations to range from $2.72 to $2.82.

The company's shares have fallen 4.5% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P's 500 index has decreased slightly more than 5%. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $209.98, a rise of 11% 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 AVB at https://www.zacks.com/ap/AVB