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 real estate investment trust, based in Houston, said it had funds from operations of $749 million, or $1.72 per share, in the period.

The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of $1.71 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 $311 million, or 71 cents per share.

The operator of wireless communications towers, based in Houston, posted revenue of $1.64 billion in the period, also beating Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.63 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 19% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P’s 500 index has climbed slightly more than 5%. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $93.05, a decrease of 30% 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 CCI at https://www.zacks.com/ap/CCI