Technology

Did Investors Want More From Adobe?

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Source: Wikimedia Commons
Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) reported second-quarter fiscal 2015 results after markets closed Tuesday. The software company reported adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.48 on revenue of $1.16 billion. In the same period a year ago, the company reported adjusted EPS of $0.37 on revenue of $1.07 billion. Second-quarter results also compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for EPS of $0.45 and $1.16 billion in revenue.

On a GAAP basis, EPS totaled $0.29 and did not include $0.17 per share in stock-based compensation, $0.08 per share for amortization of purchased intangibles and an addition of $0.06 per share for income tax adjustments.

The company’s press release did not offer second-quarter or fiscal year guidance, but the company plans to discuss financial targets on its conference call. The consensus estimates for the third quarter call for EPS of $0.54 on revenues of $1.25 billion. For the full year, analysts are looking for EPS of $2.08 on revenues of $4.88 billion.

Subscription revenue jumped from $476.7 million in the same quarter last year to $773.96 million this year. The downside to that is that product sales fell from $479.25 million to $274.54 million. Including service and support revenue the company’s total revenue rose 8.8%.

The company’s CFO said:

Strong execution against our Creative Cloud, Document Cloud and Marketing Cloud businesses drove record revenue.

Adobe repurchased about 2.6 million shares in the first quarter, returning about $200 million in cash to shareholders. The company does not pay a dividend.

Even though Adobe beat expectations for both earnings and revenues, the sharp drop in product sales is probably troubling to some investors. The company did not say how many subscribers it had at the end of the quarter nor did it reveal subscriber additions for the quarter. These numbers are another measure of Adobe’s success, and the company likely will discuss them on the conference call.

The company’s shares traded down around 1.2% in after-hours trading, at $79.30, in a 52-week range of $58.51 to $80.74. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of $86.75 before the results were announced.

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