LinkedIn Results Top Estimates; Cuts Outlook

(RTTNews) - LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD), the world's largest online professional network, said Thursday after the markets closed that its first quarter loss widened from last year, as higher costs and expenses more than offset a 35% increase in revenue.

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

"Q1 was a solid quarter in which we made meaningful progress against our multi-year strategic roadmap," said Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn. "During the quarter, we maintained steady growth in member engagement while achieving strong financial results."

At the same time, the company forecast second quarter revenue and earnings below analysts' current consensus estimate and lowered its full year 2015 outlook.

LinkedIn shares are currently losing 20.75% in after hours trading after closing the day's regular trading session at $252.13, dwon $5.02 or 1.95%. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $136.02 to $276.18.

For the first quarter ended March 31, 2015, the Mountain View, California-based company reported a net loss of $42.5 million or $0.34 per share, compared to net loss of $13.4 million or $0.11 per share for the year-ago quarter.

Excluding items, adjusted net income for the third quarter was $72.5 million or $0.57 per share, compared to $47.3 million or $0.38 per share in the prior year quarter.

On average, 36 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.56 per share for the first quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenue for the first quarter rose 35% to $637.69 million from $473.19 million in the same quarter last year. Thirty-four analyst had a consensus revenue estimate of $636.48 million for the first quarter.

The company recorded strong revenue growth across all its three product categories. First quarter revenues from talent solutions products jumped 36% to $396 million, while revenue from marketing solutions products surged 38% to $119 million and revenue from premium subscriptions products climbed 28% to $122 million.

U.S. revenue comprised 61% of the company's total revenue in the first quarter, while international revenue comprised the rest 39%.

Earlier this month, LinkedIn agreed to buy Carpinteria, California-based online learning company lynda.com in a cash and stock deal valued at about $1.5 billion.

Looking forward to the second quarter, the company forecasts revenue of $670 million to $675 million and adjusted earnings of about $0.28 per share. Analyst currently expect the company to earn $0.74 per share on revenue of $717.50 million for the second quarter.

For the full Year 2015, the company now forecasts revenue of about 2.90 billion and adjusted earnings of about $1.90 per share. Previously, the company forecast revenue of $2.93 billion to $2.95 billion and adjusted earnings of $2.95 per share. Analyst currently expect the company to earn $3.03 per share on revenue of $2.98 billion for the full year 2015.

The company said its latest guidance takes into account three incremental factors: changes in foreign exchange rates; adjustments to its operations; and the impact from the pending lynda.com acquisition.

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