LinkedIn quarter profit bts Str view

The business of jobs-socialising is doing mighty well, LinkedIn shows.

Professional social network site LinkedIn Corp topped Wall Street's third-quarter profit and revenue targets, as advertising rates spiked and sales from its hiring services nearly doubled.

Shares of LinkedIn gained nearly 8 percent to $115.15 in after-hours trading on Thursday, as the company extended its streak of beating analyst expectations every quarter since its May 2011 initial public offering (IPO).

They seem to be firing on all cylinders, said Macquarie Research analyst Tom White.

They continue to penetrate enterprises with their talent solutions business and continue to have plenty of upside opportunity there, he said.

LinkedIn connects professionals seeking jobs and companies looking for employees. The company makes money from selling ads and premium subscriptions, as well as from offering specialized services to recruiters, setting it apart from its ad-dependent social networking rivals such as Facebook Inc and Twitter.

The company raised its full-year revenue forecast on Thursday, projecting total revenue to range between $939 million and $944 million, compared with its prior range of $915 million to $925 million.

Chief Executive Jeff Weiner said on a conference call on Thursday that the online service now had 187 million members and that members are spending more time on the website.

Member page views grew 44 percent, well in excess of unique visitor growth, indicating that members are becoming increasingly active on LinkedIn, said Weiner.

LinkedIn has rolled out a number of new features and enhancements to its website in recent months as it tries to entice its members to spend more time on its website. Traffic to LinkedIn's home page increased 60 percent since a website redesign that it rolled out during the third quarter.

Analysts say that the so-called user engagement levels on LinkedIn remain well below websites such as Facebook and Google , limiting the amount of advertising revenue that LinkedIn can reap.

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