- For the second quarter in a row, LinkedIn (LNKD) fell hard post-earnings. Evercore and Avondale Partners downgraded to neutral ratings, while various other firms defended the company.
- Evercore's Ken Sena notes LinkedIn's 2H15 sales (officially guided above consensus) were guided down if one excluded an accounting benefit related to the Lynda.com acquisition. "The reasons for the company’s more conservative outlook have mostly to do with limited visibility on its Marketing Solutions line, where it continues to make a transition away from higher-priced premium display to feed-based and more performance-based ads."
- Though Sena thinks the ad transition can be managed, he declares "the combination of another FY effective guide down, a steep deceleration in the company’s 2Q sequential user growth (measured on unique visitors), and margins showing compression (with and without Lynda) leads [Evercore] to move to the sidelines on shares." He also compared LinkedIn's ad challenges to Twitter's.
- BGC's Colin Gillis, on the other hand, considers ad concerns overblown in light of the strong performance of LinkedIn's Sponsored Updates ads. "[D]isplay advertising is approximately 3% of overall revenue, and in our view its low quality revenue ... The irony is that the marketing solutions business that contains display advertising is the only business segment that accelerated its growth in the June quarter, growing at 32% YoY compared to 24% growth in the June 2014 quarter."
- Jefferies' Brian Pitz also sees reasons to stay bullish. "The company is still early in large market opportunities, including Sales Navigator, Lead Accelerator, Bizo and Lynda ... The company saw dramatic improvements in Sales Navigator customer satisfaction as well as higher than expected customer renewal at the higher Sales Navigator prices implemented this year.”
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Q2 results/Q3 guidance, details, CC transcript