LinkedIn third quarter blows past analyst estimates; shares up 5%

LinkedIn has been billed as the anti-Facebook. And its third-quarter earnings are certainly getting a very un-Facebook-like reception on Wall Street.

LinkedIn shares, which closed at $106.85, up 8 cents, jumped 5% in after-hours trading Thursday after the professional networking company blew past analyst forecasts, making a profit and growing revenue faster than expected.

The Mountain View, Calif., company said it earned $2.3 million, or 2 cents a share, in the third quarter. Adjusted earnings were 22 cents a share, double what analysts had expected.

Revenue leapt 81% to $252 million from $140 million. Analysts had expected $245 million.

LinkedIn is forecasting revenue of $270 million to $275 million in the fourth quarter, in line with analyst expectations of $272 million.

For the full year, LinkedIn is expecting revenue of $939 million to $944 million, well above Wall Street estimates of $934 million.

“We expect a strong finish to the year,” LinkedIn Chief Financial Officer Steve Sordello said in a statement.

Investors have resisted the hype surrounding a new crop of social networking companies after Facebook’s botched initial public stock offering in May. That IPO performed in sharp contrast to LinkedIn’s scorcher a year earlier.

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