DOW JONES NEWSWIRES Boston Properties Inc.'s (BXP) first-quarter results beat views as a key profitability gauge rose on higher rent, although leasing occupancy deteriorated. Shares in the office-property owner were down 1.1% at $103 after hours as it reined in its top target for full-year profitability. Through the close, the stock had risen 32% in the last year, better than the market at large. The real-estate investment trust, which also manages and develops hotel and industrial properties, projected current-quarter funds from operations--a key profitability metric among REITs--of $1.18 to $1.20. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were expecting $1.15 a share. However, it lowered the top end of its full-year FFO guidance by a nickel from its January forecast; it now projects $4.45 to $4.55 a share. The company's assets--located in places like midtown Manhattan, Boston and Washington D.C.--didn't suffer as much housing downturn as other those in other areas and have been among the quickest to recover. In the fourth quarter, charges from repaying debt early weighed on results but base rent continued to rise. In the most recent period, leasing rates fell to 91.7% from 93.2% at the end of the fourth quarter. Base rent rose 12%. Boston Properties posted a profit of $40.8 million, or 29 cents a share, from $52.7 million, or 38 cents a share, a year earlier. FFO rose to $1.12 a share from $1.07. In January, the company projected earnings of 26 cents to 28 cents and FFO of $1.06 to $1.08. Rental revenue increased 11% to $404.5 million. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters most recently anticipated $389 million. Last month, Boston Properties agreed to sell its Carnegie Center in Princeton, N.J., for about $468 million to a joint venture between Normandy Real Estate Partners and Landis Group. -By Joan E. Solsman, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2291; joan.solsman@dowjones.com
