UPDATE: Cowen Upgrades LinkedIn Corp, Cites Sales Navigator Product

latest effort to monetize its social network could produce added sales of $1.6 billion by 2019, an analyst said Friday. Linkedin, the Mountain View, California-based professional network operator with about 277 million members, last month launched enhancements to its system enabling salespeople to mine its network for leads. Cowen's John Blackledge called it LinkedIn's "next catalyst," and upgraded its shares to Outperform with a target of $253. LinkedIn changed hands recently at $212.51, up 3.14 percent. Along with improved software, LinkedIn beefed up its sales force for the system, called Sales Navigator, to 150 people with plans to expand that to at least 200. "The enhancements and sales effort should enable strong adoption," Blackledge said in a note. Citing data from the market research firm IDC, Blackledge said salespeople with a "high social selling index score" at present turn in better performance than those relying on traditional methods. Moreover, buyers are currently five times more likely get on a salesperson's hook via a social media "introduction" than through a cold call, Blackledge said. Like many if not all social media concerns, LinkedIn is "in the early stages of monetization," Blackledge said. In the recent quarter, individual "premium" subscriptions accounted for 20 percent of the company's $363.7 million in revenue. Marketing solutions, which included Sales Navigator, accounted for another 20 percent of revenue, and talent solutions, pitched to job recruiters, brought in 60 percent. Blackledge forecast the company's revenue will grow 30 percent annually in the 2014 to 2019 period. Blackledge expects marketing solutions growth of 21 percent, versus a recent rate of 44 percent; subscription revenue growth of 42 percent, compared with 44 percent in the recent quarter; and talent solutions revenue growth of 28 percent, compared with 49 percent in the recent quarter.