Benzinga | Sep 8, 2021 07:36AM EDT

Why Are Citrix Systems Shares Trading Higher Today?

* Activist hedge fund Elliott Management Corp disclosed close to a $1.3 billion stake in the $13 billion Citrix Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CTXS) and sought to boost the software company's lagging stock price, the Wall Street Journal reports.

* The stock has lost 20.5% year-to-date.

* The pandemic triggered remote activities proved to be a boost to Citrix.

* However, Citrix attracted takeover speculations due to its smaller size than peers like VMware Inc (NYSE:VMW).

* Elliott recently informed Citrix of stake ownership of over 10% in the company and would like to work with it to improve its valuation.

* Citrix makes software to virtually access desktops and other cloud-computing capabilities. Elliott previously took a stake in Citrix in 2015 and held a seat on its board until last spring.

* The market hammered the stock on Q2 revenue miss and weak Q3 guidance. Analysts slashed their price targets, including a downgrade.

* Price Action: CTXS shares traded higher by 5.43% at $109.12 in the premarket session on the last check Wednesday.