Citrix share price tumbles on profit warning

Citrix issued a profit warning last night when rolling out preliminary financial data for calendar Q2, sending its share price crashing by 12 per cent.

The mobility, desktop and virtualisation vendor said earnings per share (EPS) were estimated to be in the $0.39 to $0.40 cent range, compared to its previous guidance of $0.41 to $0.42 per share.

Sales were well off pace too, with Citrix estimating turnover of $710m to $712m range, versus the previous higher forecast of $730m to $740m.

"While we are disappointed that we fell short of expectations this quarter, we remain confident in our strategy and our markets," said president and CEO Mark Templeton.

He added that it continues to tread on the cloud services and mobility path with a specific bent on security and IT management.

The exact reasons for the shortfall were not discussed but Templeton said he will provide more colour when the numbers are filed on 23 October.

Citrix stumbled in Q1 due to an unexpected delay in closing deals, particularly on the XenDesktop application and desktop virtualisation product.

At the time of releasing those results, in April, it slashed estimates for the full year, causing the share price to slide by seven per cent.

The second calendar quarter was less choppy, with sales up 19 per cent year-on-year to $730m.

In a Q2 conference call with analysts, Citrix said demand levels would remain mixed in the second half of this year, but it had raised expectations for total revenues and EPS due to its sales pipeline. ®