Know why 'LinkedIn recently got creamed'?

[ by Melanie Gretchen and Howard Haykin ]

According to CNBC's Jim Cramer, everything about LinkedIn's Q1 earnings report was terrific, except for a couple of points made by CFO Steve Sordello.  While offering guidance about what to expect in the 2nd quarter of this year, Mr. Sordello provided some lower-than expected figures - which in turn led to an overreaction that caused a big sell-off in the stock.  But Cramer advises that investors have little to fear.  The firm, he said, "are unpromising and will overdeliver" at the next conference call.  He added, "I want to buy LinkedIn."

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Continue reading this post for CNBC's account of the conference call, or click the link below to access the referenced story.

Cramer: Here's Why LinkedIn Is Getting Creamed

CNBC.com | Friday, 3 May 2013 | 10:24 AM ET

Guidance from LinkedIn caused a big drop in the company's stock price on Friday morning, but CNBC's Jim Cramer said it was an overreaction and has created a great buying opportunity.

"Two lines in this conference call have destroyed this stock today," Cramer said. "They are underpromising and they will overdeliver. I want to buy LinkedIn."

Here are the lines in the conference call that Cramer was referring to. It's second-quarter guidance from LinkedIn's CFO Steve Sordello:

    For the second quarter, we expect revenue between $342 million and $347 million, a range of 50 percent to 53 percent growth year-over-year. For the full year, we have revised upward our annual guidance by 20 million, [to a range of] 1.43 billion to 1.46 billion, growth of 47 percent to 50 percent year-over-year.

    We expect second-quarter adjusted EBITDA of between $77 million to $79 million, a 22 percent margin at the midpoint. And for the full year, we have revised upward our expectations by $15 million for a range between $330 million to $345 million, also a 22 percent margin at the midpoint.

"This is the only negative. Page after page after page, its premium model is terrific. I refuse to be tied down by that line," Cramer said. "I like LinkedIn."

LinkedIn has adopted an increased focus on its news feed, which is similar to Facebook's in ad delivery. Cramer said that's been "a huge win" for Facebook and should benefit LinkedIn.

He sees Yelp, Facebook and LinkedIn as the winners in the "era of social media companies," and this is only the beginning.

LinkedIn beat on both earnings and revenue, but the stock fell sharply in Friday trading on the disappointing outlook.

However, earnings shot up sharply, with the company reporting that first-quarter net income rose to $22.6 million or 20 cents a share, from $5 million or 4 cents a share in the year-earlier period.

Excluding items, earnings jumped to 45 cents a share from 15 cents a share a year earlier. Revenue shot up 72 percent to $324.7 million from $188.5 million.

Analysts had expected the social-networking site to report earnings of 31 cents a share on $317 million in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.

For the full year, the company expects revenue of between $1.43 billion and $1.46 billion—analysts currently expect $1.5 billion.

— Reuters contributed to this report.   [CNBC, 5/3/13]

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