Could LinkedIn’s Results Have Been Much Better?

LinkedIn provided third-quarter guidance for revenues in the range of $543 million to $547 million and adjusted EBITDA between $134 million and $136 million. Second-quarter adjusted EBITDA came in at $145 million. Adjusted EPS is forecast at $0.44. The consensus estimate for third-quarter revenues is currently $540.86 million and the EPS estimate is $0.40.

For the full year, LinkedIn forecast revenues in the range of $2.14 billion to $2.15 billion. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to total about $545 million to $550 million, and adjusted EPS is forecast at $1.80. Consensus estimates call for revenues of $2.13 billion and EPS of $1.64.

The company’s CEO said:

LinkedIn delivered strong financial results in the second quarter while maintaining investment in our member and customer offerings. We made significant progress against several key strategic priorities including increasing the scale of job opportunities on LinkedIn; expanding our professional publishing platform; and continuing the strategic shift towards content marketing through Sponsored Updates.

Second-quarter revenues rose in all three of the company’s businesses. Talent solutions revenue rose 49%, marketing solutions revenue rose 44% and premium subscriptions revenue also rose 44%.

Growth has been good and results are good too. What LinkedIn has been able to do over the past year or so is manage expectations, something it had to learn. Now its forecasts are slightly higher than the consensus, but probably lower than what we will see reported in another three months.

LinkedIn shares were trading up about 7% in premarket trading Friday to $193.40. The stock’s 52-week range is $136.02 to $257.56. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of $222.70 before the earnings report. That price target is down $40 from last December’s consensus.

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