Adobe Rises on Record Quarter

Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) reported its fiscal third-quarter financial results after the markets closed on Thursday. The company had $0.54 in earnings per share (EPS) on $1.22 billion in revenue, compared to consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters that called for $0.50 in EPS on $1.21 billion in revenue. The same period from the previous year had $0.28 in EPS on $1.01 billion in revenue.

During this quarter Adobe recorded a record quarterly revenue, representing a year-over-year growth of 21%.

Digital Media Annualized Recurring Revenue (ARR) grew to $2.65 billion at the end of the quarter, driven by strong sequential growth in Creative ARR of $262 million. At the same time, Adobe Marketing Cloud achieved record revenue of $368 million, representing up 27% from the previous year.

The company repurchased approximately 1.6 million shares during the quarter, returning $132 million of cash to stockholders in the fiscal third quarter.

Shantanu Narayen, Adobe President and CEO, commented on earnings:

Our execution and momentum continued in Q3, resulting in record quarterly revenue with outstanding profit and earnings growth. Content and data are the currency of business today. Adobe’s industry-leading Creative Cloud, Adobe Document Cloud and Adobe Marketing Cloud solutions let customers deliver more valuable, personalized experiences that drive greater business impact.

On the books, the company had cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments totaling $3.67 billion compared to $3.74 billion at the end of the previous fiscal year.

During this quarter the company also announced changes in its executive team:

• Senior Vice President David Wadhwani has decided to leave Adobe to pursue a CEO opportunity.
• Bryan Lamkin will now lead the Digital Media business, which includes Creative Cloud and Adobe Document Cloud, in addition to Document Cloud business as well as Corporate Development and Technology.
• Abhay Parasnis, who joined Adobe in July as CTO and SVP of Cloud Technology, will also expand his current role to assume responsibility for Adobe’s Security and Research teams.
• Executive Vice President and CFO Mark Garrett will add Corporate Development, which includes corporate strategy, M&A and corporate alliances, to his existing responsibilities.

Shares of Adobe closed Thursday down 0.3% at $80.31 on its 52-week trading range of $58.51 to $87.25. Following the release of the earnings report, shares were up 2.2% at $82.10 in the after-hours trading session. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $90.55.

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