LinkedIn (LNKD) Investors Like What Wall Street Is Selling; Four New Buy Ratings Launch Shares

LinkedIn's (Nasdaq: LNKD) May IPO will be one for the storybooks due to its first-mover advantage in the upcoming social media IPO craze and the wild action seen in the stock following the debut. However, according to analysts the story for LinkedIn is just getting started.

Four analyst, all from firm's involved in bringing the company public, initiated coverage on LinkedIn today with Buy ratings or equivalent. While LinkedIn is up over 80 percent from its IPO price of $45, these analyst see room for more upside.

• J.P. Morgan started coverage with an Overweight rating and $85 price target. The firm said "LinkedIn is disrupting both the online and offline job recruitment markets, and deeper corporate penetration and increasing member engagement will drive strong results over the next few years." They said the company is well positioned to take share of both the ~$27 billion addressable worldwide market for staffing and talent acquisition and the ~$70 billion global online advertising market. The firm is projecting 2010-2013 CAGRs of 55% for revenue and 64% for EBITDA.
  
  
• UBS initiated coverage with a Buy rating and $90 price target. The firm states, "We believe LinkedIn could transform the hiring industry through viral growth of its already massive, socially-connected platform. Rapid, accelerating top-line growth (110% Y/Y in 1Q) suggests market validation for the company’s three business lines: Hiring Solutions, Marketing Solutions and Premium Subscriptions." The firm notes LinkedIn’s member base constitutes one of the most influential, affluent, and educated audiences on the web...about 35% of US members have household incomes exceeding $100K, compared to only ~20% of the total US Internet audience.
  
  
• BofA/Merrill Lynch rate shares Buy with a $92 price target. They see revenues growing to $1.2 billion by 2014 and expect 49% revenue growth and 64% EBITDA growth from 2010-2014, with EPS growing to $1.70 in 2014.
  
  
• Morgan Stanley rates share at Overweight with an $88 price target.

Notably, with today's 12 percent surge in the stock price to $85.60, LinkedIn is within 8 percent of the highest price target. Shares have already surpassed JPMorgan's $85 target.

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