Citrix Posts Record Q4 Growth

"[For Citrix,] 2003 was about strategy beyond a single product; 2004 was about investments in a foundation for growth; 2005 is about leverage, really driving growth from the strategic investments we've made," said Mark Templeton, president and CEO of Citrix, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Growth in 2004 was driven by its expanded product portfolio, which included version 3 of the Citrix Access Suite, launched in April, Templeton said.

"This year we'll continue to build on this momentum with a focus on systems scalability and performance, increased compatibility with enterprise applications and devices, tighter integration across suite components and system manageability," Templeton said.

The company's product roadmap for the coming year includes the launch of Smart Access, which brings "the ability to automatically sense the end user's access scenario and dynamically deliver an optimal and secure access experience," he said.

Access Gateway, the new VPN appliance Citrix acquired through its December purchase of Net6, will sell for $2,495 plus $100 per concurrent user for licenses, he said.

For the quarter, ended Dec. 31, Citrix reported earnings of $52.3 million, or 30 cents per share, a 43 percent increase from $36.3 million, or 21 cents per share, the same quarter a year ago.

Revenue for the quarter grew more than 36 percent to $214 million, from $157 million the same quarter a year ago.

Quarterly software license revenue increased 12 percent, while revenue from software license updates grew 49 percent over the same quarter a year ago.

For 2004, Citrix grew earnings to $131.5 million, or 75 cents per share, up from $126.9 million, or 74 cents per share, in 2003. Sales for the year jumped 26 percent to $741.2 million compared to $588.6 million in 2003.

Financial analysts expected the company to earn 27 cents per share for the quarter on sales of $201 million. For the year, analysts expected the company to report earnings of 90 cents per share on revenue of $728 million.

For the first quarter of 2005, Citrix expects to report revenue in the range of $190 million to $200 million, with earnings in the range of 19 cents to 21 cents per share.

Shares of Citrix closed up 40 cents at $23.15 Thursday prior to the announcement.