BOSTON (AP) — BOSTON (AP) — American Tower Corp. (AMT) on Tuesday reported a key measure of profitability in its fourth quarter. The results exceeded Wall Street expectations.

The Boston-based real estate investment trust said it had funds from operations of $1.07 billion, or $2.29 per share, in the period.

The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of $2.18 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 $84.9 million, or 18 cents per share.

The wireless communications infrastructure company posted revenue of $2.79 billion in the period, also topping Street forecasts. Eight analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $2.73 billion.

For the year, the company reported funds from operations of $4.61 billion, or $9.87 per share. Revenue was reported as $11.14 billion.

American Tower expects full-year funds from operations in the range of $10.21 to $10.45 per share, with revenue in the range of $11.05 billion to $11.23 billion.

The company's shares have fallen 13% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P's 500 index has climbed slightly more than 6%. The stock has decreased 4% 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 AMT at https://www.zacks.com/ap/AMT

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