William Blair & Company Initiates Coverage of Citrix Systems, Inc. With Outperform Rating

William Blair & Company initiated research coverage of Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CTXS) ($30.56) with an Outperform rating and Aggressive Growth company profile. Citrix offers end-to-end application delivery, including desktop, application, and server virtualization products.

Associate Analyst Bhavan Suri and analyst Laura Lederman estimated that the company, which also provides solutions for network acceleration, secure private networks, and remote access, support, and collaboration, would generate non-GAAP EPS of $1.63 in 2008 and $2.04 in 2009.

“Citrix’s dominant market position in presentation virtualization and its broad product portfolio should allow the company, in our opinion, to grow revenue 18%, on average, annually over the next three years,” Suri said. “We believe that additional near-term upside could come from the company’s application networking and online collaboration/support products. Longer term, its server virtualization offerings could add materially to results.”

William Blair & Company, L.L.C. has received compensation for investment banking services from the company within the past 12 months, or expects to receive or intends to seek compensation for investment banking services in the next 3 months.

William Blair & Company, L.L.C. is a market maker in the security of this company and may have a long or short position.

William Blair & Company, L.L.C. is a Chicago-based investment firm offering investment banking, asset management, equity research, institutional and private brokerage, and private capital to individual, institutional, and issuing clients. Since 1935, we have been committed to helping clients achieve their financial objectives. As an independent, employee-owned firm, our philosophy is to serve our clients' interests first and foremost. We place a high value on the enduring nature of our client relationships, the quality of our products and services, and the continuity and integrity of our people. William Blair & Company’s offices include Chicago, Boston, London, New York, San Francisco, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Zurich. For more information, please visit www.williamblair.com.

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