Takeaway: It pays to listen to Hesham Shaaban.

Some people pigeonhole our Internet & Media analyst Hesham Shaaban as being perennially bearish. The truth of the matter is he has a host of names he likes on the long side. Take LinkedIn. He added it to his Best Ideas list back in July. Shares of LNKD are rocketing higher today up 12%.  The stock has gained 14% since he added it versus the S&P 500 which is down 0.6%.

Not too shabby.

See LinkedIn? Hedgeye Internet Analyst Strikes (Again) | $LNKD - 10 30 2015 lnkd chart 2

Heading into last night’s earnings release, Shaaban was looking for a “clean beat and raise” of LinkedIn's forward guidance. That’s exactly what shareholders got. (Editor’s Note: LNKD is also on Hedgeye’s Investing Ideas list of top thirteen top holdings.)   

Here’s a snippet of what he said ahead of the print:

See LinkedIn? Hedgeye Internet Analyst Strikes (Again) | $LNKD - 10 30 2015 lnkd 3q15

And Shaaban's update today:

“No lumps of coal in guidance this time. The transition that spooked the Street in 1Q15 was due to a massive investment in its salesforce… We see that ramp as a coiled spring.

 

Incidentally, Shaaban correctly called Pandora's (P) move lower just last week (see here). Shares have tumbled even lower this week down 6%, after plunging 38% last week. 

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