What’s It Worth?

LinkedIn is getting a huge amount of attention.  The company goes public on Thursday.  Hold your breath and play the “What’s It Worth?” game again.  Market analysts are calling it a “good litmus test” as to whether or not there is again an appetite for IPOs… especially tech IPOs.  And, especially social media-focused tech IPOs.

The pundits agree: LinkedIn’s stock performance will serve as a bellwether for the rest of the “Big 5” (Facebook, Groupon, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Zynga).

Matt Lynley points out in his VentureBeat article:

It was just 8 days ago when LinkedIn claimed a valuation of $3 billion in an amended S-1 filing with the SEC. The quick about-face to increase the company’s valuation could end up creating additional chatter about whether several Web 2.0 companies are overvalued. LinkedIn’s valuation is the first official record of the hyper-valuations many Web 2.0 companies like Twitter and Facebook have seen in recent years.

Evelyn Rusli writes in her DealBook article:

LinkedIn’s improving fortunes signal the swelling demand for the Web’s most promising social media start-ups. Both Groupon and Facebook are expected to go public within the next 12 months. Groupon is said to be talking to bankers about a valuation north of $20 billion. Facebook’s last major financing round, a $1.5 billion investment led by Goldman Sachs, valued the company at $50 billion.

Todd Wasserman gives us the nuts and bolts of the revenue picture in his Mashable piece:

The eight-year-old company hit the 100 million user mark in March and became profitable in 2010 with a net income of $10.1 million and net revenues of $161.4 million in the first nine months of 2010. In Q1, LinkedIn’s revenues hit $93.9 million, a 110% increase from the year-ago period. Net income was $2 million, compared to $1.8 million in Q1 2010.

Dan Primack writes for Fortune:

The real question for LinkedIn and the others, however, won’t be answered for several years. Is it a warm-up to the Internet market peak, which most people believe will be reached when Facebook goes public? Or is it a peak in itself, which means other companies had better strike now while the iron is hot?

All of these articles are terrific and provide a good bit of information on the situation:

• Confident or arrogant? LinkedIn ups valuation to $4B [VentureBeat]
• LinkedIn Rockets to $4 Billion Valuation [DealBook]
• LinkedIn IPO Is Set for Thursday [Mashable]
• LinkedIn IPO: Justify my bubble [Fortune]

Lots of opinions… Will it trend up or down in the first week of activity?  A lot of investors will be watching the ticker on Thursday.  The stock is expected to launch on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “LNKD”.

LNKD – So, what’s it worth?