LinkedIn disappoints Wall Street collapsed and over 40% in stock – Les Echos

LinkedIn is far from having the profile of the student dissipated sitting in the classroom. It is even a problem. For more Wall Street instead of hope in a value, the greater the penalty is ruthless when it is not up to par. On Friday, during the professional social network Stock Exchange plummeted 40%, melting its market capitalization to 15 billion dollars.

The reason, ads for 2016 have frozen the markets, with the publication of the annual results. The Group’s forecasts for profit (55 cents per share) for the next quarter are below expectations, according to Thomson Reuters consensus (74 cents). The same goes for sales target for this year (announced between 3.6 and 3.65 billion dollars against 3.9 billion expected according to data compiled by Bloomberg).

“ LinkedIn payroll being in a spiral of ever more. Having used the market and shareholders to a level of performance and reward, the group’s cautious worried , “said Jean Pujol, digital transformation consultant with Kurt Salmon. The copy made in 2015 by LinkedIn is nevertheless of good quality, despite some erasures. Main downside, the dependence of the US group to its domestic market remains strong, with 62% of revenues are still generated there.

The acquisitions policy continues

A trend that is not expected to reverse in the short term. Regarding the recruitment of new users, LinkedIn is under pressure in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. “ But when compared with Viadeo for that deployment in China was a matter of survival, it is not the case for LinkedIn, whose strong presence in the US is a force ,” notes Jean Pujol.

The professional social network is also well established in countries like France or India, already its second largest market in terms of number of members. The Group’s losses have certainly dug to $ 165 million, against 15 million last year. But they are explained by higher marketing expenses and research and development increased by 39% year on year, to $ 1.8 billion.

The acquisitions policy continues as it has a cost. LinkedIn has acquired Connectifier, a startup that has developed a tool to target and index user profiles seeking employment through artificial intelligence. Last April, the professional social network has also disbursed $ 1.5 billion to buy Lynda.com, a site specializing in education.

LinkedIn now has 414 million members

But these investments are necessary if the group wants to continue to optimize its platform and expand its user base. A park that is doing well: LinkedIn now has 414 million members and drains 57% of mobile traffic. The social network also continues to increase its revenue to nearly $ 3 billion, up 35% year on year.

All parts of its business are growing. With an “Okay” for recruitment solutions to companies that remain the locomotive of the whole and are gaining momentum. By itself, this segment generated $ 1.9 billion in revenue, an increase of 41% compared to 2014.

“ is a LinkedIn world reference on its perimeter. The model is healthy and I see no questioning their ambition to be the Facebook of the professional sphere “concludes Jean Pujol. But Wall Street was expecting better for 2016. The price of success for the good student LinkedIn

.