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What's happening?
Shares of LinkedIn (LNKD.DL) are up 12% today following the online professional network's better-than-expected third quarter 2014 results, and despite lower-than-expected forward guidance.
Why it's happening
LinkedIn's quarterly revenue jumped 45% year-over-year to $568 million, once again driven by balanced growth across all three of its segments: talent solutions (45%), marketing solutions (45%), and premium subscriptions (43%). This translated to a 33% increase in adjusted earnings per share to $0.52. Analysts, on average, were only expecting adjusted earnings of $0.48 per share on sales of $557.4 million.
It's worth noting that LinkedIn's current-quarter guidance was somewhat subdued, calling for revenue between $600 million and $605 million, and adjusted earnings of $0.49 per share. Both figures were below analysts' models for earnings of $0.52 per share on sales of $611.6 million. Keep in mind LinkedIn's Q3 revenue and earnings also exceeded the mid-points of its own previous guidance by $23 million and $0.08 per share, respectively. Given LinkedIn's increasingly consistent habit of underpromising and overdelivering, it's no surprise investors are exercising forgiveness amid today's guidance shortfall.
