LinkedIn Corp Surges After Smashing Earnings Estimates

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LinkedIn released its second quarter earnings report after closing bell tonight, posting earnings of 55 cents per share on $712 million in revenue, a 33% year over year increase. Analysts had been expecting earnings of 30 cents per share and $679.8 million in revenue.

Shares of LinkedIn soared in after-hours trades, climbing as much as 11.66% to $254.94 per share.

LinkedIn sees growth in all segments

LinkedIn posted a net loss of 53 cents per share or $68 million and adjusted EBITDA of $163 million, which was 23% of total revenue.

On a constant currency basis, LinkedIn’s total revenue increased 38% from last year. The social network recorded a 38% year over year increase in Talent Solutions revenue, including revenue from Learning & Development. Marketing Solutions revenue rose 32% to $140 million, while Premium Subscriptions revenue climbed 22% to $128 million.

LinkedIn saw about a 60% increase in feed engagement and strong growth in search traffic, which the company said grew “meaningfully faster than overall member activity.” The social network surpassed 1 million unique long-from member publishers and a 40% improvement in unique visiting members to jobs-related pages.

The company’s Job Search app surpassed 3 million activations after reaching 1 million in the first quarter. Also the number of jobs posted on LinkedIn’s platform rose to almost 4 million compared to last year’s 1 million.

LinkedIn management commented on their continuing efforts to expand into new markets, especially China:

“The global expansion of LinkedIn is also a core part of connecting members to their professional world,” said LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner in a statement. “We recently reached the 10 million member milestone in China, up from 4 million last February, and China is now our second largest market for new signups behind the U.S. We have built strategic relationships with many of the largest Chinese web platforms including WeChat, QQMail, Alibaba, and Alipay.”

LinkedIn provides guidance

LinkedIn guided for third quarter revenue of between $745 million and $750 million and adjusted EBITDA of between $146 million and $148 million. The social network expects adjusted earnings of about 43 cents per share. For the full year, LinkedIn projects about $2.94 billion in revenue and about $665 million in adjusted EBITDA. Management projects non-GAAP earnings of about $2.19 per share.

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