LinkedIn shares sink 8% to $88, despite solid Q2

The professional social networking service reported $121.0 million in revenue for Q2 2011, up 120%

[UPDATE: Shares in LinkedIn closed for the day at $91.36, down $4.16 (4.36 percent) from Thursday. In after-hours trading, that price had only fallen slightly to $91.07.]

LinkedIn on Friday saw its shares open up $4.48 higher, rising from $95.52 to $100.00, after reporting a solid first financial quarter on the public market.

Just 10 minutes after market's open, however, those same prices started to slip. As of 9:40AM EDT, LinkedIn's share sat at $88.18, a $7.34 drop (7.68 percent).

All eyes are on LinkedIn, as the company is the first social networking service to hit the public market, and its financial successes could mirror a later Facebook public offering.

On Thursday, the company reported Q2 2011 revenue at $121.0 million, an increase of 120 percent compared to Q2 2010, when the company made $54.9 million. Likewise, net income rose from $4.3 million to $4.5 million and non-GAAP net income rose from $6.4 million to $10.8 million.

Revenue growth was a direct reflection of LinkedIn’s growing membership and traffic. The site now has 115.8 million members, up 61 percent from the second quarter of 2010. Unique visitors grew to 81.8 million per month, up 83 percent, and page views grew to 7.1 billion, up 80 percent.

"In the second quarter, we saw record levels of members, unique visitors, and page views, while revenue growth further accelerated," said Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn. "Going forward, we plan to continue to invest in our team, technology, and products in order to increase the value we deliver to members and realize the full potential of the LinkedIn platform."

On Friday morning, LinkedIn boasted a market cap of $9.03 billion.

Leading up to its quarterly report, LinkedIn stock had been a bit wobbly, with the most pronounced drop seen in mid-July, when shares dipped $7.53 (6.85 percent) from $109.97 to $102.44, in response to analysts at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. reducing their rating from “overweight” to “neutral.”

Shares on Thursday’s market close were even lower than that, at $95.52, which is actually just a dollar more than the $94.25 at which LinkedIn’s stock closed on its very first day on the NYSE, back in mid-May.

Since LinkedIn has already proliferated widely in the states, some of its future success could be dependent on international growth. For Q2 2011, the company reported U.S. revenue at $82.7 million, or 68 percent of total revenue, versus international revenue totaling $38.3 million, or 32 percent of total revenue.

Viadeo and XING are still seen as two viable competitors for the company abroad.