BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) _ SBA Communications Corp. (SBAC) on Thursday reported a key measure of profitability in its fourth quarter. The results beat Wall Street expectations.

The Boca Raton, Florida-based real estate investment trust said it had funds from operations of $248.8 million, or $2.18 per share, in the period.

The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of $2.16 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 $67.4 million, or 59 cents per share.

The communications tower operator, based in Boca Raton, Florida, posted revenue of $513.7 million in the period, also surpassing Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $506.4 million.

For the year, the company reported funds from operations of $972.4 million. Revenue was reported as $2.01 billion.

SBA Communications expects full-year funds from operations in the range of $9.07 to $9.47 per share, with revenue in the range of $2.1 billion to $2.14 billion.

The company's shares have risen 21% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $292.13, a climb of 60% 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 SBAC at https://www.zacks.com/ap/SBAC

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News