Duke Realty sees third-quarter rise in revenue, earnings

Duke Realty Corp. slightly exceeded analyst expectations on one financial performance measure in the third quarter while barely missing on another.

The real estate investment trust, based in Indianapolis, said Wednesday that it had funds from operations of $107.8 million, or 30 cents per share, in the quarter. Funds from operations is a closely watched measure in the REIT industry that takes net income and adds back items such as depreciation and amortization.

Eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research had predicted funds from operations of 29 cents per share for Duke.

Duke posted revenue of $194.8 million in the period, up from $181.7 million in the third quarter of 2016.

Its adjusted revenue was $169.6 million, just missing forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $170.3 million.

The company reported a profit of $165.3 million, or 46 cents per share, compared with $112 million, or 32 cents per share, a year ago.

Duke said it expects full-year funds from operations in the range of $1.21 to $1.25 per share, a revision from its previous guidance of $1.20 to $1.26 per share.

The company said it started $230 million of developments in the quarter that were 54 percent pre-leased in total. It finished the quarter with 11.1 million square feet of projects in the development pipeline, with total expected project costs of $696 million and a pre-leasing rate of 63 percent.

Duke shares closed at $28.79 each Wednesday prior to the quarterly report, a rise of 11 percent in the last year.