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

The Boca Raton, Florida-based real estate investment trust said it had funds from operations of $324 million, or $2.96 per share, in the period.

The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of $2.88 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 $188.6 million, or $1.72 per share.

The communications tower operator, based in Boca Raton, Florida, posted revenue of $619.8 million in the period, which also beat Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $603.9 million.

SBA Communications expects full-year funds from operations in the range of $11.72 to $12.09 per share, with revenue in the range of $2.49 billion to $2.53 billion.

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

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