LinkedIn rises on results, outlook

Activision and Zipcar stocks fall in late session

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By Benjamin Pimentel, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Shares of LinkedIn Corp. jumped in after-hours trading after the company posted stronger-than-expected revenue and raised its full-year outlook.

The results eased pressure on the stock amid a growing negative sentiment surrounding the social-media sector, especially following Facebook Inc’s rocky public debut.

“There’s been a target on [LinkedIn’s] back given what happened to Facebook FB -4.02% and Zynga ZNGA -3.91% ,” Susquehanna analyst Herman Leung said. “People are nervous.” But the company’s robust results and raised outlook “shows that these guys can actually stand out,” he added.

LinkedIn LNKD -2.23%  was last trading up more than 3% after reporting a second-quarter profit of $2.8 million, or 3 cents a share, compared with $4.5 million or 4 cents a share for the year-earlier period.

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Revenue was $228.2 million, up from $121 million. Adjusted profit was 16 cents a share.

Analysts were expecting the company to report a profit of 16 cents a share, on revenue of $215.8 million, according to a consensus survey by FactSet. The company also raised its full-year revenue outlook to a range of $915 million to $925 million, from a previous forecast of $880 million to $900 million.

Meanwhile, shares of Zipcar Inc.ZIP +3.10%  traded down 24% after the car-sharing company reported a loss of a penny a share on revenue of $70.8 million.

Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting the company to break even on revenue of $73.1 million.

Also in the red in after-hours trading were shares of Activision Blizzard Inc. ATVI -0.42% , which were down more than 3% after the videogame publisher reported a drop in second-quarter profit. 

Benjamin Pimentel is a MarketWatch reporter based in San Francisco.