By David Benoit And Lisa Beilfuss 

Activist Elliott Management Corp. is moving in on software company Citrix Systems Inc. and wants the company to slim down by selling assets and cutting costs.

Elliott, a specialist when it comes to activism in technology companies, sent a letter to Citrix management and board Thursday introducing itself and laying out steps it believes the company should take that could drive shares higher. Those include selling or spinning off some of the businesses, culling product offerings, buying back shares, cutting costs and sharpening the sales force to boost profit margins that have stagnated.

The stock popped 7.1% to $70.66 in recent trading as Elliott projected it could hit $90 to $100 a share by the end of next year.

Representatives for the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., company weren't immediately able to comment Thursday.

Citrix makes workplace software that allows employees to work from their own desktops or mobile devices off of a centralized data center, which is known as virtualization.

Elliott, which has a 7.1% stake, complimented Citrix on its products, but is concerned the company has lost its focus with various offerings such as mobile applications and cloud-computing servers, as well as a host of other products Elliott says are distractions. It said the company has failed to deliver on promises to increase its focus, costing it credibility with investors and Wall Street.

In January, Citrix announced a restructuring program by which it would cut more than 700 jobs. At the time, the company said it expected to save $90 million to $100 million.

For its most recent quarter, Citrix reported a 48% drop in profit as it recorded restructuring-related charges. The company also cut its outlook for the year and warned that current-quarter results would disappoint.

While Elliott has often called for technology companies to be put up for sale, the investor in this case isn't pushing for a sale off the bat and is instead focused on turning around the operations, a person familiar with the matter said.

In an unusual detail, Elliott in its letter to Citrix spelled out the vast amount of resources it had tapped while researching the company. It hired two investment banks, former technology executives for advice, and consultants to work on how to restructure the sales force, survey customers and review products.

Such changes have long been speculated by Wall Street analysts.

"In our opinion, it is a matter of when, not if, serious operational changes will be made at Citrix," Stifel analysts wrote in a note Thursday.

Write to Lisa Beilfuss at lisa.beilfuss@wsj.com

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