LinkedIn Results Beats Street, Outlook Strong; Shares Up 5%

(RTTNews) - LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD) on Thursday posted a loss for the first-quarter that widened from a year ago, hurt largely by higher operating costs. On an adjusted basis, earnings for the quarter improved and trumped Wall Street estimates, as revenues jumped 35 percent led by growth across all segments.

Shares of the online professional network rose 5 percent in after-hours trading as the company projected a strong outlook for the second quarter and full year.

Mountain View, California-based LinkedIn's first-quarter loss widened to $45.8 million or $0.35 per share from $42.5 million or $0.34 per share last year. Adjusted earnings were $0.74 per share, up from $0.57 per share last year.

Revenues for the quarter jumped 35 percent to $860.7 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $0.60 per share and revenues of $828.47 million.

Talent Solutions revenue increased 41 percent to $558 million, while marketing solutions revenue increased 29 percent to $154 million. Premium Subscriptions revenue increased 22 percent to $149 million.

Looking forward to the second quarter, LinkdedIn expects adjusted earnings of $0.74 to $0.77 per share on revenue of $885 million and $890 million. Analysts currently estimate earnings of $0.71 per share on revenues of $886.05 million.

For the full year, LinkedIn now expects adjusted earnings of $3.30 to $3.40 per share and revenues of between $3.65 billion and $3.70 billion. Earlier, the company projected adjusted earnings of $3.05 to $3.20 per share and revenues of $3.60 billion to $3.65 billion.

Analysts currently estimate earnings of $3.19 on revenues of $3.67 billion for 2016.

LNKD closed Thursday's trading at $123.01, up $4.16 or 3.50%, on the Nasdaq. The stock further gained $6.59 or 5.36% in the after-hours trade.