Citrix Shares Surged: What You Need to Know

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of software provider Citrix Systems (NAS: CTXS) soared 18% on Thursday after its quarterly results and full-year outlook topped Wall Street expectations.

So what: Citrix's third-quarter profit beat was so convincing -- EPS of $0.64 versus the consensus estimate of $0.58 -- that investors are being forced to bake higher growth estimates into their models. Citrix's desktop solutions saw particularly strong demand overseas, suggesting that previous Wall Street worry over a weak lineup and pipeline of products is overblown.

Now what: "The investments we've made over the past year in people, infrastructure, innovation and go-to-market is powering growth through geographical reach and business model diversity," said CEO Mark Templeton. In fact, management now sees full-year revenue of $2.47-$2.48 billion, up nicely from its prior view of $2.38-$2.41 billion. While most Fools are still safer with virtualization gorillas like Cisco Systems (NAS: CSCO) and VMware (NYS: VMW) , less risk-averse investors might be more attracted to Citrix's upside given its relatively small size.

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At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributor Brian Pacampara owns no position in any of the companies mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Cisco. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Cisco and VMware. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days.We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Fool's disclosure policy always gets a perfect score.

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