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 (Nasdaq: 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 (Nasdaq: CSCO  ) and VMware (NYSE: VMW  ) , less risk-averse investors might be more attracted to Citrix's upside given its relatively small size.

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