CHICAGO (AP) _ Ventas Inc. (VTR) on Friday reported a key measure of profitability in its third quarter. The results exceeded Wall Street expectations.

The Chicago-based real estate investment trust said it had funds from operations of $283 million, or 75 cents per share, in the period.

The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of 72 cents 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 $12.8 million, or 3 cents per share.

The seniors housing real estate investment trust posted revenue of $918.9 million in the period, missing Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $919.3 million.

The company's shares have dropped 29% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has increased nearly 9%.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on VTR at https://www.zacks.com/ap/VTR

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