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

The Houston-based real estate investment trust said it had funds from operations of $479 million, or $1.10 per share, in the period.

The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of $1.02 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 a loss of $464 million, or $1.07 per share.

The operator of wireless communications towers, based in Houston, posted revenue of $1.06 billion in the period, which also beat Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.04 billion.

Crown Castle expects full-year funds from operations in the range of $4.06 to $4.17 per share.

The company's shares have risen 17% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P's 500 index has declined slightly more than 5%. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $105.76, an increase of 13% 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