LinkedIn’s Strong Business Model Guarantees Strong Earnings to Come

LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD) reports earnings after the bell today, but despite a strong winning streak that has held up since the company first went public in May 2011, shares are down more than 2 percent at mid-day.

LinkedIn has consistently beaten expectations for all the key metrics — earnings, revenues, profits, etc. — and Wall Street is expecting another such beat when it reports fourth-quarter results this afternoon. And for the most part, investors are expecting equally stellar results. Shares hit a new high of $127.45 in late January, and are trading only a few dollars shy of that point today after rising in after-hours trading on Wednesday.

Today’s decline is just a fairly normal correction that often accompanies a power-house stock that’s climbed very high, very fast. In less than two years, the stock has rocketed from its IPO price of $45 per share to roughly three times that figure. Those who bought in early are smiling now, and will likely still be smiling come 4 o’clock, when LinkedIn is expected to post adjusted earnings of 19 cents per share on revenue of $280 million.

After all, the company already gave a positive indication of growth earlier this year when it announced that it had surpassed 200 million account-holders for the first time. That’s more than double the total at its IPO, and up from 187 million members at the end of September…