AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ American Campus Communities Inc. (ACC) on Monday reported a key measure of profitability in its third quarter. The results surpassed Wall Street expectations.

The Austin, Texas-based real estate investment trust said it had funds from operations of $45 million, or 32 cents per share, in the period.

The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of 30 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 a loss of $19.5 million, or 15 cents per share.

The real estate investment trust posted revenue of $202.7 million in the period.

The company's shares have dropped 21% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Monday, shares hit $37.05, a drop of 26% 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 ACC at https://www.zacks.com/ap/ACC

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