LinkedIn delivered an early Valentine’s gift to its Wall Street admirers.
The social network for professionals reported profits in the fourth quarter nearly doubled — topping the growing expectations of investors.
LinkedIn delivered 81 percent revenue growth alongside an 8 percent pop in membership — to 202 million.
Revenue growth to $303.6 million in the period also topped Wall Street forecasts and helped push shares in the Mountain View, Calif., company up 12 percent in after-hours trading, to $136.40, a new all-time high.
Profits hit 35 cents per share, up from 19 cents last year.
“2012 was a transformative year for LinkedIn,” CEO Jeff Weiner said in a statement. “We exited 2011 having successfully revamped our underlying development infrastructure. Based on that investment, we said that 2012 would be a year of accelerated product innovation, and it was.”
LinkedIn, which, in May 2011, was the first social networking company to go public, sold shares in its IPO at $45 — and the stock has been on a run since then, more than tripling with the after-hours uptick.
The performance is in stark contrast to that of Facebook, which has yet to regain its IPO price of $38.
While Facebook showed signs of slowing growth and seasonal affects on revenue, LinkedIn continued to grow quarter after quarter.
For the current quarter, the company said revenue could rise again even though it follows the typically more lucrative holiday quarter.
LinkedIn said revenue could hit $310 million in the current quarter.
The company is growing its three main revenue sources: Recruiting services were up 90 percent year over year; advertising was up 68 percent; and premium subscriptions were up 79 percent.
Also, the network ended the year with 202 million members, up 39 percent from the end of 2011.