Analyst: LinkedIn 'Fans' Drive Stock To Challenging Level

LinkedIn Corp LNKD is a "fan favorite" among a certain set of investors that have driven its share price up to "challenging levels" an analyst said Thursday.

The company is up more than 30 percent in the past year, and changed hands recently at $266.30, up $1.38.

Canaccord's Michael Graham said that despite its high valuation, LinkedIn's new products and likely upward revisions to guidance during 2015 will drive the shares higher.

Graham counts himself among LinkedIn's fans, and boosted his price target more than 5 percent to $300, maintaining a Buy rating.

"We haven't found too many doubters" since the company released fourth-quarter earnings on February 5, Graham said.

Among 39 analysts following LinkedIn, 29 maintain Buy ratings and 10 are at Hold, according to FactSet.

Although the company is best known as a kind of Facebook for job seekers, LinkedIn's biggest current potential for "revenue upside" is in advertising, according to Graham.

The segment, called Marketing Solutions, last month launched what it calls the Lead Accelerator, which aims to push products at users who are in the process of buying.

LinkedIn plans to overhaul its website later this year, which "should take engagement higher still," Graham said.

Revenue from recruitment services will be stable in the short term, while Graham said adoption "is progressing nicely" for the company's Sales Navigator segment that offers sales professionals tailored information about their chosen accounts and contacts.