Adobe Systems Q1 Profit Tops Wall Street Estimates

(RTTNews) - Enterprise software maker Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE), Thursday reported an increase in profit for the first quarter, as revenues continue to increase reflecting strong cloud revenue growth. The Photoshop maker's earnings topped Wall Street estimates as did revenues.

San Jose, California-based Adobe's first-quarter profit rose to $583.1 million or $1.17 per share from $398.4 million or $0.80 per share last year.

Adjusted earnings for the quarter rose to $1.55 per share from $0.94 per share last year. On average, 28 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $1.44 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Adobe said its revenue for the quarter rose 24 percent to $2.08 billion from $1.68 billion last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $2.05 billion for the quarter.

Digital Media segment revenue was $1.46 billion, with creative revenues growing to $1.23 billion and document cloud revenues of $231 million, respectively, Adobe said in a statement.

"Adobe's outstanding growth is driven by enabling our customers to be more creative, work smarter and transform their businesses through our relentless focus on delivering innovation and intelligence across our solutions," said Shantanu Narayen, president and CEO, Adobe.

Adobe has been focusing on cloud based subscriptions to boost revenue. Its Creative Cloud software as a service offering gives users access to a range of its software, for a monthly or annual subscription. Customers prefer the cloud route instead of buying individual products and software suites for a licensee fee.

Digital Experience segment achieved revenue of $554 million for the quarter, a 16 percent growth from last year.

Looking forward to the second quarter, the company expects revenue of $2.15 billion adjusted earnings of about $1.53 per share. That compares to consensus for $2.14 billion and $1.51 per share.

ADBE closed Thursday's trading at $218.87, up $0.43 or 0.20% on the Nasdaq. The stock further gained $8.10 or 3.70% in the after-hours trading.