LinkedIn beats expectations as its stock gets 12% boost

LinkedIn announced the strong earnings on the company's third-quarter financial report. The results beat revenue and earnings expectations. The sales jumped as the company gained attraction in China.

The company's revenue hit $780 million and earnings of 78 cents per share. The analysts' forecast was $756 million in revenue and earnings of 45 cents per share.

Total revenue for the quarter includes $41 million from LinkedIn's recently acquired online education business, Lynda.com. Sales rose 37% from the previous year. In the latest quarter, 38% of total sales were generated from outside of the U.S.

LinkedIn shares rose 12% in after-hours trading, rose $26 to $243. The company's earnings per share $0.78, topping expectations for earnings of $0.45. The result is giving the company a market value of more than $31 billion.

According to Techcrunch, the company's Talent Solutions division was its fastest growing segment, up 46% year over year to $502 million in revenue. The Talent Solution Division mainly serves corporate recruiters.

The company's Marketing solutions division grew 28% to $140 million in revenue, while subscription revenue grew 21% year over year to $138 million.

LinkedIn's members rose 20% from the last year to 396 million, according to CNBC. The site's members in China reaches 13 million members, tripled from last year, as it launched a local language version in the country.

LinkedIn's domestic business is much stronger in growth than its international business. The company's domestic growth up 41% to $484 million in revenue from $343 million in the third quarter last year. While its international segment jump 31% from $225 million to $295 million.

LinkedIn also posted a loss, according to Forbes, of $41 million or 31 cents a share. In comparation, one year earlier the company posted a loss of $4 million or 3 cents a share. Excluding certain expenses, LinkedIn said it would have earned $103 million, or 78 cents a share, easily topping forecasts of 45 cents per share on that basis.

The company has two new products to launch. The site's Referral product launched this month, aimed to make it easier for employees to recommend their first-degree LinkedIn connections for open positions at their firms.

Another new product is revamped Recruiter platform that will be launched early next year. The new product aimed to better automate the process and eliminate redundant tasks of searching for new recruits.

For the last quarter of the year, the company expects revenue in a range of $845 and $850 million with earnings per share of 74 cents. For the full year, it expects revenue between $2.975 billion and $2.98 billion.