Shares of real estate investment trust Macerich Co. rose 6 percent Thursday following the company’s announcement that third-quarter funds from operations beat Wall Street expectations.

The Santa Monica shopping mall owner reported its funds from operations, a metric used by real estate investment trusts to remove the effects of depreciation, totaled $93.3 million (66 cents per share) compared with $88.7 million (97 cents per share) for the same quarter last year. The results beat analyst expectations of 64 cents per share based on a survey by Thomson Reuters.

Revenue for the most recent quarter was $191 million, a decrease of 4 percent compared with third-quarter 2009.

The company attributed the slump in its quarterly revenue to a one-time asset sale in 2009 that boosted its revenue by $162 million.

Macerich announced its results before the New York Stock Exchange opened on Thursday. The stock closed at $49.03 per share, up $2.85 or 6 percent for the day.