Citrix Beats, Beats, Guides; Shares Soar

Shares of enterprise software maker Citrix Systems

are soaring almost 8% in Wednesday's after-hours session after the company reported a first-quarter profit of 59 cents per share, on revenue of $589 million. That handily topped the 51 cents and $562 million analysts expected. "I'm pleased with our strong start to 2012,” said Mark Templeton, president and chief executive officer for Citrix, in a statement. "We've made great strides in web collaboration, desktop virtualization and cloud networking, strengthening and solidifying our company and product leadership in these markets. "We are expanding into fast growing, adjacent markets, all fueled by three powerful forces – the need for mobility, the enterprise cloud evolution, and the build-out of hosted cloud services." Citrix said it expects second-quarter EPS of 58-59 cents, which misses the 63 cents per share analysts are expecting, but the company forecast revenue of $605 million to $615 million. That beats the $603.5 million analysts are expecting. Citrix raise its full-year profit outlook to $2.75 to $2.79 per share on revenue of $2.53 to $2.56 billion. That's up from previous guidance of $2.49 billion to $2.51 billion, and $2.70 to $2.74 per share. Analysts are expecting revenue of $2.51 billion and a profit of $2.72 per share.