UPDATE: Stifel Nicolaus Reiterates Buy Rating, Raises PT on Citrix Systems Following 2Q13 Rebound

In a report published Thursday, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Brad Reback reiterated a Buy rating on

, and raised the price target from $72.00 to $81.00. In the report, Stifel Nicolaus noted, “Coming off a mixed 1Q13 print, Citrix rebounded in 2Q13, with a strong revenue, EPS, CFFO, and bookings beat that sent shares up 6% AH. What pleases us even more is that Citrix was able to deliver 21% Y/Y license growth on impressive NetScaler strength, despite a rather pedestrian desktop license quarter (up 2% Y/Y, below estimates). We continue to believe the modest growth in the desktop business is due to transitory/cyclical factors (the transformational nature of desktop virtualization leads to pushed deals in a weak-macro; customer pause due to product refreshes [XenDesktop7] and new products [XenMobile]) and that easing comps, improving salesforce productivity, and investments sets up well for accelerating growth in 2H13 and beyond. Our bottom-line is that Citrix sits at the nexus of broad, secular-trends (enterprise mobility, cloud infrastructure,collaboration) that solve evolving and real CIO pain-points. Given this backdrop, we believe shares remain attractive and raise our Target Price to $81 from $72.” Citrix Systems closed on Wednesday at $67.49.