Adobe Tops Wall Street's Profit View (Again)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Adobe Systems (ADBE) surged in extended trading on Monday after the graphics design and publishing software maker topped Wall Street expectations with its fiscal fourth-quarter results.

After the closing bell, San Jose, Calif.-based Adobe reported adjusted earnings of $285.7 million, or 56 cents a share, for the three months ended Dec. 3, up from a year-ago equivalent profit of $206.8 million, or 39 cents a share, and ahead of the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters for earnings of 56 cents a share in the December period.

Revenue came in at $1.01 billion for the quarter, an increase of 33% from last year and above the company's projected range of $950 million to $1 billion. The consensus view was for revenue of $988.1 million.

"We posted our first billion dollar quarter and record annual revenue in 2010, driven by outstanding performance across all of our major businesses," said Shantanu Narayen, the company's president and CEO, in a statement. "Adobe is transforming how the world is creating, measuring and delivering digital experiences. We are one of the most diversified software companies in the world and are entering 2011 with strong momentum."

For its fiscal first quarter ending in February, Adobe said it's targeting non-GAAP [generally accepted accounting principles] earnings of 54 to 59 cents a share on revenue ranging from $1 billion to $1.05 billion. That view is ahead of Wall Street's current forecast for earnings of 51 cents a share in the quarter on revenue of $992.2 million.

Adobe shares closed Monday's regular session at $29.18, up 1.4%, ahead of the report. At that level, the stock was down about 22% year-to-date. The shares were last quoted at $30.46, up 4.4%, on volume of 1.62 million in after-hours action, according to Nasdaq.com.

Monday's beat was the ninth straight time Adobe has managed to come in ahead of the consensus analyst view for its quarterly adjusted profit.

--Written by Michael Baron in New York.



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