Susquehanna Starts LinkedIn (LNKD) at Positive

Susquehanna initiates coverage on LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD) with a Positive rating and a price target of $270.00.

Analyst Shyam Patil commented, "We believe there are multiple near- and long-term drivers to sustain strong top-line growth and drive margin expansion over the next several years. We would take advantage of the pullback in the stock from the noise in the 2Q report around display advertising."

The analyst highlighted the following drivers:

1. We view Sales Navigator as one of the next $1 billion+ businesses, which we think could occur by early 2018 on a run-rate basis and much earlier than the market expects.
2. Sponsored Updates and Bizo are still maturing, but are well-positioned to capture the large multi-billion dollar B2B advertising opportunity, given LinkedIn’s significant user data advantage (job title data at scale). We believe this business could reach a $1 billion+ run-rate by 4Q17, likely much earlier than the market expects.
3. Talent Solutions is LinkedIn’s largest business, and our analysis suggests that penetration is still relatively low with meaningful opportunity ahead. We believe the biggest opportunities are with U.S. SMBs and International SMBs and enterprises.
4. Lynda.com and China appear to be progressing well and we believe represent longer-term opportunities.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on LinkedIn click here. For more ratings news on LinkedIn click here.

Shares of LinkedIn closed at $190.03 yesterday.

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