Shares of activist target athenahealth Inc. (ATHN) - Get Report soared on Friday, Oct. 20, after the healthcare technology firm on Thursday reported mixed third-quarter results and a 9% staff reduction as part of streamlining efforts in connection with its recently announced strategic review.

Athenahealth, a target of Elliott Management Corp., reported adjusted net income per share of $0.56, compared with $0.60 in the year-ago period, and revenue of $304.6 million, up 10% year-over-year from $276.7 million.

Analysts had expected, on average, earnings per share of $0.50 on revenue of $310.5 million, according to FactSet Research Systems Inc.

Shares of athenahealth closed at $126.04 on Friday, up 8.3%.

Watertown, Mass.-based athenahealth is a provider of medical record, revenue cycle, patient engagement, care coordination and population health services.

The company in August announced a strategic review of its operational and financial strategy, leadership and governance, saying it had identified about $100 million in cost-savings opportunities.

On Thursday, the company said it has increased its cost-savings goal. It said the board has greenlighted a plan to generate $100 million to $115 million gross savings, substantially all of which the firm expects to achieve by the end of 2018.

As part of the reorganization, athenahealth plans to close its San Francisco and Princeton, N.J., offices.

Athenahealth said it plans to reinvest part of the savings to "drive innovation and fund our highest priority initiatives."

The company said it "continues to face weaker utilization trends and a more challenging demand environment." In addition, it expects a negative impact of about $4 million on its 2017 revenue from hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Athenahealth revised its full-year GAAP revenue guidance to a range of $1.2 billion to $1.22 billion, compared with the previously issued outlook of $1.21 billion to $1.25 billion. It now expects adjusted operating income of $135 million to $150 million, compared with the previous range of $120 million to $140 million. As for annual bookings, it now expects $300 million to $350 million, compared with previous guidance of $350 million to $400 million.

In May, Elliott Management's Paul Singer launched a campaign at company, urging it to consider "strategic opportunities."

In a 13D filing on May 18, Elliott said it believed that athenahealth operates in a "highly strategic area at the intersection of technology and health care with a disruptive value proposition, a leading competitive position and a compelling product set, the value of which is not reflected in [athenahealth's] current market value."

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