Adobe Beats Earnings Estimates

SAN FRANCISCO - Adobe Systems(ADBE Quote) surpassed the Street's third-quarter earnings expectations Tuesday and guided higher.

The San Jose, Calif. software company said revenue rose 4% to $887.3 million, from $851.7 million in the same quarter of last year. Analysts were expecting a top line of $876.7 million, according to Thomson Reuters.

The developer of Web design and publishing software reported net profit fell 6.6% year over year to $191.6 million, or 35 cents a share, from $205.2 million, or 34 cents a share, in the year-ago period, when the number of shares outstanding was greater by 10%.

Excluding special charges, EPS was 50 cents. Analysts were looking for 46 cents a share, less items.

Deferred revenue totaled $232.4 million, up 21% year over year. Operating margin was 24.7%, vs. 29.9% one year ago. Excluding charges, operating margin was 39.7%, compared to 40% for the same quarter of last year.

For the fourth quarter, Adobe projected revenue ranging from $925 million to $955 million and EPS, less items, of 51 cents to 53 cents. Analysts were expecting $939.4 million and EPS, less items, of 51 cents.

Adobe's dominant Flash software for playing Web video is coming under increasing pressure from Microsoft's(MSFT Quote) Silverlight, which was used by NBC, which is jointly owned by General Electric(GE Quote) and Vivendi, to stream Olympics coverage.