今天准备开赌:LNKD CALL

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Ahead of the Tape: LinkedIn Worth Another Look -- WSJ 

Source: Dow Jones News 
By Steven Russolillo  
After its latest earnings report, LinkedIn Corp.'s stock ended up like a job candidate's résumé with dumb spelling mistakes: in the trash. Three months later and still begging for an interview, investors should fish it out. 

In February, the social network of the professional world, forecast a much weaker 2016 than expected thanks to a slowdown in its higher-margin online sales business. The stock tanked 44%, its worst one-day drop ever. It hasn't come close to recovering. 

LinkedIn now sees revenue growing 20% to 22% this year, down from 35% in 2015. Yet even in that slower-growth mode, the stock's selloff looks overdone. Overly sour sentiment heading into its first-quarter earnings report Thursday should provide brave investors an opportunity. 

Analysts polled by FactSet estimate earnings of 60 cents a share, up just 5% from a year ago. In January, this was expected to be 75 cents. Revenue is expected to have grown by 30% to $828 million. 

Frequently, LinkedIn unfairly gets lumped in with other social-media companies and young, highflying technology firms. Yet its hybrid consumer and enterprise business model is far more sustainable and diversified than others with uncertain business underpinnings. As a portal of online résumés, LinkedIn has fundamentally changed how people search for jobs and how employers find candidates. 

Granted, that also explains why February's report was so surprising and why the stock's reaction was so severe. Since its initial public offering nearly five years ago, LinkedIn has exceeded earnings and revenue expectations in each of its quarterly reports. This consistency helped justify a particularly rich valuation. In hindsight, that left little room for error. 

LinkedIn is no stranger to volatility. Its stock has had double-digit percentage swings after each of the past seven quarterly reports. But now, LinkedIn has a lower bar to hurdle and a more reasonable multiple. 

Its shares fetch 35 times projected earnings over the next 12 months, near its cheapest as a public company and a far cry from the 80 times it has averaged over the past three years. 

With the stock at less than half of last year's record, investors might want to log in again.

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