Adobe Systems
The maker of software for creative professionals reported a 19% year-over-year revenue gain at $887 million and $0.40 in GAAP earnings per share -- up from $0.25 per share last year.
Growth like that would be awesome if the reporting company was a stagnant giant like Oracle
But for Adobe, it's a letdown. The annual sales growth in the last three quarters was 41%, 34%, and 37%, in that order, so a mere 19% is a very weak trend.
And where management waxed poetic in recent earnings reports about demand for its software products, there was nary a product name mentioned this time in the press release. Instead, CEO Shantanu Narayen focused on "the product mix and geographic diversity of our business." Again, that's fine for a global powerhouse like IBM or Hewlett-Packard
Color me unimpressed by Adobe. Is the company lowballing us to set itself up for a buyout by some rich rival in digital media, like Apple
Further Foolishness: