Citrix Systems CTXS recently rolled out a cloud-powered solution — Citrix App Delivery and Security Service — designed primarily to simplify and automate the process of app delivery like provisioning, on-boarding and management. This will help IT teams to provide augmented user experience.
The solution is “intent-based”, which means that it can automatically convert business and technical intent into application delivery as well as security policies and configurations, added the company. The offering is expected to be available from the fourth quarter of 2021.
Citrix App Delivery and Security Service is capable of auto-detection and correction of various application delivery issues including performance deterioration and outages.
Citrix also stated that the solution can gather and evaluate 10 billion data points from more than one billion users spread across 50,000 networks in 200 countries per day to offer increased visibility into the state of the Internet through Citrix Intelligent Traffic Management.
Citrix Systems, Inc. Price and Consensus
Citrix Systems, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Citrix Systems, Inc. Quote
IT teams can leverage the data to enhance the application experience for users. IT can also advise locations for hosting extra sites to deal with higher traffic and sustain adequate service levels.
The new solution features Bot management, integrated web application firewall and Application Programming Interface (API) protection for both valuable and susceptible assets.
Changing Workspace Demands Underscore Opportunities
The cyber security market, globally, is forecast to witness a CAGR of 14.5% between 2021 and 2026 and reach $352.25 billion, per a Mordor Intelligence report. The remote work trend resulted in increased instances of cyber-attacks, thereby necessitating the deployment of solid secure access solutions.
Higher requirements to create an agile IT infrastructure that can thwart Advanced Persistent Threats is also fueling market growth.
The adoption of a distributed work model is expected to drive demand for both digital workspace and security solutions in the post-pandemic world.
These projections bode well for Citrix, which is one of the well-known players in the digital workspace solutions space. Apart from Citrix SD-WAN and Citrix Secure Workplace Access solutions, the company also provides solutions like Citrix Endpoint Management, Citrix Secure Browser and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop.
The buyout of Wrike (March 2021) is expected to strengthen the company’s presence in the Software as a service (SaaS)-based collaborative work management solutions’ domain.
However, Citrix is facing a tough time, given the ongoing transition to subscription-based model. The transition is exerting pressure on Product and License revenues as well as Support and Services revenues.
A highly-leveraged balance sheet is another concern for this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company. As of Jun 30, 2021, the company’s cash and cash equivalents and investments stood at $532 million. Long-term debt at the end of the quarter was $3.474 billion.
In the last reported quarter, the company announced that it was incorporating various changes to its sales organization as well as processes and go-to-market strategies in the second half of 2021 to bolster its SaaS operations. Citrix lowered its outlook for 2021 due to a negative impact from these organizational changes.
For 2021, Citrix expects revenues between $3.22 billion and $3.25 billion compared with the earlier guidance of $3.38-$3.42 billion.
A few days back, Bloomberg had reported that the company is discussing with its advisers to explore a potential sale amid a disappointing stock performance. There is no official word on the matter from Citrix.
In the past year, Citrix’s shares have declined 22.3% against the industry’s growth of 29.8% and S&P 500 index’s rally of 31.3%.
Stocks to Consider
Some better-ranked stocks in the broader sector are Avnet AVT, HP Inc HPQ and Paycom Software PAYC. All the stocks flaunt a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Long-term earnings growth rate for Avnet, HP Inc and Paycom is currently pegged at 25.4%, 8.2% and 25%, respectively.
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