LinkedIn Gets Big Lift After Goldman Upgrade

LinkedIn Corp. shares reached their highest level in more than seven months Wednesday, passing $100 a share, as the online professional-networking company benefited from a ratings upgrade from a Goldman Sachs analyst.

LinkedIn rose nearly 10 percent to $100.58 in afternoon trading in the wake of the upgrade to "buy" from "neutral."

In a research note, analyst Heath Terry said LinkedIn's growth in its "core hiring solutions and marketing services businesses is likely to be higher than market expectations." Terry added that the company is seeing more business customers adopting LinkedIn's hiring solutions in their job search efforts.

However, Terry also noted that LinkedIn is in a good position to monetize its business through the use of mobile devices, mostly due to the company emphasizing subscriptions over advertising-based revenue.

The battle for revenue from mobile services has proven to be a tricky one for many social-media or networking based companies. When Facebook filed for its initial public offering, it listed mobile usage as a "risk factor," noting it has yet to figure out how to effectively attract advertising and other spending to match the growth of its services being used on mobile devices.

Since it went public at $83 a share on May 19, 2011, LinkedIn's stock has fallen to as low as $55.98, but is up more than 57 percent since the start of 2012.