Thread- I don't believe this has been posted yet. Sorry if it has. It contains some more details about the downgrade. -MikeM(From Florida)
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Citrix Falls 2nd Day on Concern About CFO, Downgrade
By Andria Cheng
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, June 9 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of Citrix Systems Inc., which adapts Microsoft Corp. software for networks, fell 20 percent amid concerns its business is slowing.
The shares fell 10 3/8 to 41 3/16 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading of 50.2 million shares, making them the most active U.S. stock. Citrix's market value has plunged by more than $3 billion in the past two days, to less than $8 billion.
Dain Rauscher Wessels analyst Sarah Mattson today downgraded Citrix to ``buy'' from ``strong buy,'' citing evidence that some customers were delaying purchases. Citrix fell 14 percent yesterday after Chief Financial Officer John Cunningham skipped a presentation at an investor conference. Cunningham sent another executive to the PaineWebber Growth and Technology Conference 2000 in New York instead.
``There were signs that the company wasn't growing as fast as it had been,'' said Michael Cristinziano, an analyst at Gerard Klauer Mattison, who has a ``buy'' rating on the stock. ``When an officer doesn't show up ... investors interpret it as, `they must be hiding something.'''
Citrix, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said a spokesman couldn't comment until Monday.
Some Citrix customers are delaying purchases until later in the second quarter, Mattson said. That may cause Citrix to reduce prices or give customers better terms to meet sales goals, she said.
Mattson said any problems shouldn't last long. Citrix is starting to do business with larger customers, which often put off buying decisions.
Before yesterday, Citrix's shares had slid 53 percent in three months. Analysts cited worries about the company's shrinking profit margins and the potential impact of a breakup of Microsoft.
Microsoft, the world's biggest software maker, last year accounted for about 8 percent of Citrix's sales of $403 million. U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson on Wednesday ordered a split of Microsoft, ruling it had violated antitrust laws. |
