LinkedIn Corporation (LNKD) – Shares of LinkedIn Corporation (LNKD) were down more than 40% during trading hours on Friday. The company reported earnings that were in line with expectations on Thursday, however, weak guidance prompted analysts to downgrade the stock. LinkedIn indicated that it was going to phase out its “lead accelerator” product. LinkedIn stock has lost more than 50% of its value over the past three months.
Pacific Crest notes:
LinkedIn misses our Q4 sales estimate. Q4 revenue was $862 million versus our estimate of $865 million. Talent Solutions revenue was $535 million versus our estimate of $531 million. Marketing Solutions missed our estimate of $185 million slightly with $183 million. Premium Subscription was $144 million versus our estimate of $149 million. EBITDA was strong at $249 million versus our estimate of $225 million.
LinkedIn exiting Bizo. We think it is making a gigantic mistake stepping back on investment in its ad network. The value of its data to advertisers is well ahead of its inventory scale, but now it has less chance of truing up that divide. We would understand if the ad network had grave privacy issues or if there was no demand, but other examples show us this is not the case. Now Sales Navigator really is LinkedIn’s only big near-term opportunity to materially increase the monetization of its data set. Ugh.
See the following visualizations which highlight the current day, 90-day, and 1-year vs. the S&P 500 performance of LinkedIn stock.
LinkedIn Corporation (LNKD) Stock Price – Current Day
LinkedIn Corporation (LNKD) Stock Price – 90 Days
LinkedIn Corporation (LNKD) vs. S&P 500 Percent Change Over Time – 1 Year
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