Needham & Company Maintains a 'Buy' on Citrix Systems (CTXS); CY12 To Be Year of Investment
CTXS Hot Sheet
Rating Summary:17 Buy, 7 Hold, 1 Sell
Rating Trend:
Up
Today's Overall Ratings:
Up: 20 | Down: 11 | New: 38
Needham & Company maintains a 'Buy' on Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS) price target of $85.00.
Needham analyst says, "The Citrix DecQ was solid and in-line, though for a high-flier data center and virtualization company, investors were expecting a strong end to 2011. We suspect the performance of CTXS was muted due to Europe, which was +12% y/y, but “mixed” by region – we believe this is company specific. The outlook for CY12 was strong on revenues, yet costs are higher than expected due to investments, and EPS outlook for FY12 was well below the Street. Our view is Citrix believes now is the time to grab market share in virtualization and mobility solutions, and they have chosen to make CY12 a hiring year for sales reps, technical salespeople (support recent acquisitions like Cloud.com) and in channel investments."
"We remain encouraged by the core revenue performance, as the year ended with solid results from desktop +12% y/y (matching CY10’s growth) and datacenter/cloud +29% (also matching CY10 growth) during a difficult macro environment. Our view is that greater sales headcount is likely to accelerate growth, likely in 2H12; as such, the flat opmgn y/y guidance for CY12 may be conservative, as 1H12 sales/partner investments begin to yield results in second-half 2012; we therefore believe our CY12 $2.74 EPS estimate may be conservative."
For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Citrix Systems click here. For more ratings news on Citrix Systems click here.
Shares of Citrix Systems closed at $67.61 yesterday, with a 52 week range of $50.21-$88.49.
Discover Wall Street's best ratings calls with the pros - Ratings Insider Elite. Free Trial!
Needham analyst says, "The Citrix DecQ was solid and in-line, though for a high-flier data center and virtualization company, investors were expecting a strong end to 2011. We suspect the performance of CTXS was muted due to Europe, which was +12% y/y, but “mixed” by region – we believe this is company specific. The outlook for CY12 was strong on revenues, yet costs are higher than expected due to investments, and EPS outlook for FY12 was well below the Street. Our view is Citrix believes now is the time to grab market share in virtualization and mobility solutions, and they have chosen to make CY12 a hiring year for sales reps, technical salespeople (support recent acquisitions like Cloud.com) and in channel investments."
"We remain encouraged by the core revenue performance, as the year ended with solid results from desktop +12% y/y (matching CY10’s growth) and datacenter/cloud +29% (also matching CY10 growth) during a difficult macro environment. Our view is that greater sales headcount is likely to accelerate growth, likely in 2H12; as such, the flat opmgn y/y guidance for CY12 may be conservative, as 1H12 sales/partner investments begin to yield results in second-half 2012; we therefore believe our CY12 $2.74 EPS estimate may be conservative."
For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Citrix Systems click here. For more ratings news on Citrix Systems click here.
Shares of Citrix Systems closed at $67.61 yesterday, with a 52 week range of $50.21-$88.49.
Discover Wall Street's best ratings calls with the pros - Ratings Insider Elite. Free Trial!
You May Also Be Interested In
- Deutsche Bank Cuts Price Target and EPS Estimates on J. C. Penney (JCP); There's Only Two Ways This Can Go
- UBS Raises Price Target and Estimates on PetSmart (PETM); Sees Sustained Sales and Margin Benefit
- Barclays Cuts PT and Estimates on Dell (DELL); Apple's (AAPL) Momentum Proves Disrupting
Create E-mail Alert Related Categories
Analyst CommentsRelated Entities
Needham & CompanySign up for StreetInsider Free!
Receive full access to all new and archived articles, unlimited portfolio tracking, e-mail alerts, custom newswires and RSS feeds - and more!
