Sometimes, when the news is bad, companies don’t wait until earnings report day to tell Wall Street. Get it over with, take the hit now.
Such was the case Thursday for Citrix.
Citrix has said its recent restructuring led to just a few layoffs at its big ShareFile operation in that spiffy new Raleigh headquarters (900 overall). But across the company, a host of changes set in motion by the need to cut costs also cost the company in sales – big time – says its CEO.
Citrix (Nasdaq: CTXS) cut its earnings and revenue forecasts for the current quarter on Thursday with CEO Mark Templeton citing the internal changes as the big reason. He also pointed to the impact of a stronger dollar.
“We are disappointed with our Q1 results, but fully committed to the financial, operational and strategic initiatives announced last quarter,” Templeton said.
“We underestimated the impact caused by our restructuring, organizational evolution, and changes to our field and channel strategies, which were the result of important decisions made to get the business ready for our next phase of growth. Additionally, the increase in foreign exchange volatility impacted results and customer-buying behavior to a larger extent than anticipated in the quarter.
“We are continuing to optimize our business model and our focus on improving margins remains unchanged.”
Earnings aren’t due until April 22.
Analysts had been expecting revenues of $767 million in revenues and earnings of 72 cents, Barron’s noted.
Now, Citrix estimates revenues of $755-760 million, well below its previous range of $780-790 million.
Earnings will be 63-65 cents, way down from an earlier projected 70-72 cents.
Interestingly, the Street took the news in stride.
Citrix actually closed up 44 cents on the day to close at $64.65.
