LinkedIn’s conservative forecast gives pause to sizzling stock surge

LinkedIn issued a conservative revenue for the rest of the year, dampening a sizzling run in its stock price, taking the shine off an upbeat performance at the professional social network in the third quarter.

The company said it expected between $415 million and $420 million in revenue for the final three months of the year, lower than the $438 million expected by analysts.

LinkedIn said fourth-quarter growth will not be as impressive as a year ago when it rolled out new features.

Reflecting better-than-expected numbers for July-September, it did nudge its full-year estimates up to $1.5 billion. But that also fell slightly short of Wall Street’s sky-high expectations. Its fundamental business roared along in the third quarter. Monthly users rose to 259 million during the quarter. – (Reuters)