LinkedIn Results Top Estimates; Boosts Outlook

(RTTNews) - LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD), the world's largest online professional network, said Thursday after the markets closed that its third quarter loss widened slightly from last year, as higher costs and expenses more than offset a 45% increase in revenue.

However, the company's quarterly earnings per share, excluding items, came in above analysts' expectations as did its quarterly revenue.

At the same time, the company forecast fourth quarter revenue and earnings below analysts' current consensus estimate and but raised its full year 2014 outlook.

"LinkedIn made significant progress against several long-term strategic investments we began this year," said Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn. "During the third quarter, we took meaningful steps in increasing the scale and relevance of job listings, growing the professional publishing platform, and expanding our member network in new geographies and demographics."

LinkedIn shares are currently gaining 1.04% in after hours trading after closing the day's regular trading session at $202.90, up $3.39 or 1.70%. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $136.02 to $242.70.

For the third quarter ended September 30, 2014, the Mountain View, California-based company reported a net loss of $4.3 million or $0.03 per share, compared to net loss of $3.4 million or $0.03 per share for the year-ago quarter.

Excluding items, adjusted net income for the third quarter was $66.1 million or $0.52 per share, compared to $46.8 million or $0.39 per share in the prior year quarter.

On average, 36 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.47 per share for the third quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenue for the third quarter rose 45% to $568.27 million from $392.96 million in the same quarter last year. Thirty-five analyst had a consensus revenue estimate of $557.49 million for the third quarter.

he company recorded strong revenue growth across all its three product categories. Third quarter revenues from talent solutions products jumped 45% to $345 million, while revenue from marketing solutions products also surged 45% to $109 million and revenue from premium subscriptions products climbed 43% to $114 million.

U.S. revenue comprised 60% of the company's total revenue in the third quarter, while international revenue comprised the rest 40%.

Looking forward to the fourth quarter, the company forecasts revenue of $600 million to $605 million and adjusted earnings of about $0.49 per share. Analyst currently expect the company to earn $0.52 per share on revenue of $611.55 million for the fourth quarter.

For the full Year 2014, the company now forecasts revenue of $2.175 billion to $2.180 billion and adjusted earnings of about $1.89 per share. previously, the company forecast revenue of $2.14 billion to $2.15 billion and adjusted earnings of about $1.80 per share. Analyst currently expect the company to earn $1.87 per share on revenue of $2.18 billion for the full year 2014.

LinkedIn results followed that of two other social media companies Twitter Inc (TWTR) and Facebook, Inc. (FB), which reported quarterly results earlier this week.