Equity Residential: 4Q Earnings Snapshot

CHICAGO (AP) _ Equity Residential (EQR) on Wednesday reported a key measure of profitability in its fourth quarter. The results surpassed Wall Street expectations.

The Chicago-based real estate investment trust said it had funds from operations of $294.5 million, or 76 cents per share, in the period.

The average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of 74 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 $252.1 million, or 68 cents per share.

The real estate investment trust posted revenue of $613.4 million in the period, also beating Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $608 million.

For the year, the company reported funds from operations of $1.26 billion, or $3.26 per share. Revenue was reported as $2.57 billion.

For the current quarter ending in April, Equity Residential expects its per-share funds from operations to range from 65 cents to 69 cents.

The company expects full-year funds from operations in the range of $2.60 to $2.80 per share.

The company's shares have risen 13% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has increased 4%. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $66.81, a fall of 21% 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 EQR at https://www.zacks.com/ap/EQR

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