Ahead Of The Bell: Adobe To Post 4Q Earnings

NEW YORK (AP) ¿ Adobe Systems Inc. is set to report fiscal fourth-quarter earnings Tuesday, closing out a year that saw the economic turmoil dampen demand for Creative Suite 4, the software package that brings in much of the company's revenue.

In October, Adobe reiterated its forecast for fourth-quarter earnings of 23 cents to 29 cents per share on sales of $690 million to $740 million. Excluding one-time items, Adobe expects to earn 33 cents to 39 cents per share for the three months ended Nov. 27.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters on average expect earnings of 37 cents per share, excluding items, on sales of $752.5 million.

Sasa Zorovic, an analyst with Janney Capital Markets, said Tuesday he expects the company to guide for earnings of about 38 cents per share on sales of about $803 million for the first quarter.

Adobe bought Omniture Inc. this fall for about $1.8 billion. Zorovic estimates that Omniture, which makes Web analytics products, will likely contribute about $103 million to first-quarter revenue.

Without Omniture's contribution, Zorovic said first-quarter sales will likely be down 2 percent sequentially, as potential buyers of Adobe's Creative Suite system put off purchases until the next version is released. Zorovic said Creative Suite 5 will likely launch in May.

Creative Suite targets professional designers and developers and includes many of Adobe's applications, including Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash and the Web design software Dreamweaver.

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