Linkedin’s solid Quarter, American International Group, Inc. (NYSE:AIG) Slumped

Linkedin Corporation(NYSE:LNKD) has beaten analysts’ estimates and posted spectacular profits in the third quarter reinforcing its ‘favorite’ tag with investors, while several other Internet companies continue to be shunned.

The company earned $2.3 million or 2 cents a share, much better than the loss of $1.9 million or 2 cents a share in the year ago quarter.  Adjusted earnings were $25.1 million or 22 cents a share, double analysts’ estimates.

Revenue rose a whopping 81 percent to $252 million from $139.5 million.  The Street had expected only $244.6 million. Most of the revenue came from charges paid by companies for accessing profiles and other data and the rest came from advertising.

The professional networking service company has added several new features as well as applications for smart phones and tablets to draw more eyeballs and ensure that visitors remain on the site for longer.

For this quarter, LinkedIn expects revenues of $270 million to $275 million in line with analysts’ expectations of $272.9 million.

Shares of the company ended flat after soaring 8% earlier in the session.

Strong insurance operations and healthy returns on investments made have helped American International Group, Inc.(NYSE:AIG) which had suffered in the financial crisis of 2008, boost profits in the third quarter.

The New York-based company earned $1.86 billion or $1.13 a share, compared to the loss of $4 billion or $2.10 a share in the prior year quarter.  The operating income of $1 a share was much higher than analysts’ expectations of 87 cents. 

2008 had been a bad year for the company and the Federal Reserve had to bail it out with $182.5 billion.  The company has since been restructured and the debt paid off.

Shares of the company fell $2.52 or 7.16% to $32.68 after the earnings announcement.