Boston Properties fourth-quarter beats Street

JAN 31 - Boston Properties Inc (BXP.N), a real estate investment trust that owns high-end office buildings, posted earnings that nearly doubled over a year earlier when it recorded charges for the early extinguishment of debt and the repurchase of senior notes.

The real estate investment trust said on Tuesday that funds from operations (FFO) rose to $179.3 million, or $1.21 per share, compared with $89.9 million, or 64 cents per share a year ago, when it recorded losses of 50 cents a share related to the early extinguishment of debt and the repurchase of exchangeable senior notes due 2037.

The results beat analysts' average expectation of FFO of $1.19 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, and its own forecast of FFO in the range of $1.18 per share to $1.20 per share.

FFO, a measure of performance of a real estate investment trust (REIT), removes the profit-reducing effect that depreciation has on earnings. It usually also excludes gains on property sales.

Boston Properties owns buildings in Washington D.C., New York, Boston, and San Francisco. Occupancy fell to 91.3 percent at the end of the quarter from 93.2 percent at the end of 2010.

For the first quarter, Boston Properties expects FFO in the range of $1.12 to $1.14 per share. Wall Street's sees first-quarter FFO of $1.14 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Boston Properties also raised the lower end of its forecast for full-year FFO to a range of $4.65 to $4.78 per share from a prior outlook of $4.58 to $4.78 per share. Wall Street expects FFO of $4.75.

Boston Properties shares closed up 1.5 percent at $104.05 on the New York Stock Exchange and were unchanged after hours.

(Reporting by Ilaina Jonas; editing by Andre Grenon)