Publicly traded U.S. equity real estate investment trusts beat S&P Capital IQ per-share earnings estimates by a median of 0.95% in the second quarter. Of the 154 REITs included in the analysis, 94 beat consensus estimates, two hit their targets and 58 fell short.

Five of the six data center REITs surpassed their earnings estimates, while only two of the five self-storage REITs beat their estimates.

Timber REITs posted the largest beats, with Potlatch Corp., outpacing its S&P Capital IQ EPS estimate by the largest margin, at 93.9%, for the second consecutive quarter. Rayonier Inc. topped its consensus EPS estimate by 90.5%. During an earnings call, Potlatch Chairman and CEO Michael Covey said lumber prices helped drive the "outstanding" quarter. He also noted that the wood products segment set a new lumber shipment record, generating the highest quarterly profit in more than a decade.

Multifamily REIT NexPoint Residential Trust Inc. posted the largest miss of the quarter, falling short of its 39-cent-per-share S&P Capital IQ funds from operations estimate by 79.4%. NexPoint cited increased property operating expenses and loss on extinguishment of debt, among other items, as a driver for its year-over-year decrease in FFO.

S&P Global Ratings and S&P Global Market Intelligence are owned by S&P Global Inc.

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