REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) _ Equinix Inc. (EQIX) on Wednesday reported a key measure of profitability in its fourth quarter. The results exceeded Wall Street expectations.

The Redwood City, California-based real estate investment trust said it had funds from operations of $472.6 million, or $5.51 per share, in the period.

The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of $5.36 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 $125 million, or $1.46 per share.

The data center operator, based in Redwood City, California, posted revenue of $1.42 billion in the period, which met Street forecasts.

For the year, the company reported funds from operations of $1.93 billion. Revenue was reported as $5.56 billion.

For the current quarter ending in April, Equinix said it expects revenue in the range of $1.45 billion to $1.46 billion. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had expected revenue of $1.48 billion.

The company expects full-year funds from operations in the range of $24.42 to $25 per share, with revenue ranging from $6 billion to $6.05 billion.

The company's shares have increased nearly 7% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $623.14, a climb of 57% 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 EQIX at https://www.zacks.com/ap/EQIX

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News