LinkedIn Tumbles 30% On Earnings Guidance

LinkedIn reported fourth quarter earnings after the bell Thursday. While the company beat analyst estimates on both income and revenue, the stock quickly tumbled 30 percent in after-hours trading, due to a disappointing outlook and earnings guidance.

The job networking site said that revenue for first quarter of 2016 is expected to be $820 million and adjusted earnings per share will be 55 cents. For the full year, revenue is forecasted to be about $3.6 billion. Investors were discouraged by these numbers, because they were expecting $867 million in revenue for the current quarter and $3.9 billion for the full year. 

Yet the latest quarter, surpassed expectations. LinkedIn brought in $862 million in the fourth quarter, compared to Wall Street predictions of $858 million, and a 34% year-over-year increase from last year. Adjusted earnings per share was 94 cents, well above the 78 cents expected.

The company says it now has 414 million members, with 100 million unique visitors each month. 57% of active users are on mobile.

“Q4 was a strong quarter for LinkedIn, bringing to a close a successful year of growth and innovation against our long-term roadmap,” said Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn, in a statement.  “We enter 2016 with increased focus on core initiatives that will drive leverage across our portfolio of products.”

LinkedIn, makes most of its money from its premium services. Job seekers and also recruiters are paying for extra features to optimize career placement.

The company has also made an effort to showcase original content. “Influencers” including well-known business leaders and celebrities, write posts about their career experiences and share them to their LinkedIn following.

Prior to Thursday, LinkedIn shares were already down 15% this year. They closed Thursday at $192.28, with a market cap of $25 billion.

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