LinkedIn Crashes; Expedia, Skyworks Miss Too

After the closing bell on a down-trading Thursday, three Internet-based stocks -- LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD), Skyworks (NASDAQ:SWKS) and Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE) -- reported earnings, and for LinkedIn, at least, the results were not kind. Earnings per share (accounting for stock-based compensation) reached -18 cents, lower than the -$0.03 expected, and revenues of $638 million in the quarter missed expectations of $645 million. Guidance for Q2 was lowered to a range of $670-675 million, far below the $725 million in the Zacks consensus estimate.

These results have sent LNKD shares plummeting 25 percent in after-hours trading, after a 2 percent loss in regular-day trading. This has, in effect, given away LinkedIn's entire gains for the year, and then some. LinkedIn is known for low-balling their guidance numbers, so a humbler number than the Zacks consensus may have been no real surprise. However, with ending membership for LinkedIn in the quarter reaching only 350 million -- a big miss from the 362 million anticipated -- then perhaps investors have good reason to send shares into a nosedive at present.

Expedia has reported a big miss on the bottom line, as well: -25 cents per share (accounting for stock-based compensation), as opposed to -6 cents expected. Revenues of $1340 million narrowly missed the Zacks consensus of $1345 million. Shares are up 7 percent in the after-market, however -- Room Night Growth zoomed up 32 percent year over year, as revenues grew 15 percent, and total gross bookings were up 19 percent.

Skyworks Solutions narrowly missed earnings expectations of $1.03 per share by 2 cents. This is the first earnings miss for the company in the past 5 quarters, which include 2 break-even reports. Skyworks is a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock prior to the report, whereas LinkedIn and Expedia are Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) companies.

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