Adobe's Sales, Profit Up

Updated from 4:45 p.m. EST

Adobe Systems(ADBE) posted fiscal fourth-quarter results Thursday that beat expectations and offered guidance for 2006, including newly acquired Macromedia(MACR), that exceeded analysts' forecasts.

Separately, Adobe announced the resignation of its CFO.

Under generally accepted accounting principles, San Jose, Calif.-based Adobe reported net income of $156.3 million, or 31 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 2. That compared with net income of $113.5 million, or 23 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding the net tax impact of the repatriation of certain foreign earnings and investment gains, Adobe earned pro forma net income of $151.5 million, or 30 cents a share in the quarter, compared with pro forma net income of $110.4 million, or 22 cents a share, a year earlier.

Sales soared to 19% from a year earlier to $510.4 million, setting a new record for the company and exceeding the company's guidance.

Analysts were most recently forecasting that Adobe would earn 29 cents a share on $507.1 million in revenue in the fourth quarter, according to Thomson First Call.

In October, Adobe said its results should hit the high end of its targets. Those targets called for earnings ranging from 27 cents to 29 cents a share on sales of $490 million to $510 million.

Earlier this month, Adobe, which makes digital document publishing and design software, closed its $3.4 billion purchase acquisition of Macromedia, the maker of Flash software used to display graphics on Web sites.

Adobe has already started bundling Macromedia and Adobe products, a few months earlier than some analysts expected.

"The integration of the two companies is progressing rapidly," CEO Bruce Chizen said on a postclose conference call.

Looking forward, Adobe expects first-quarter revenue to range from $630 million and $660 million, first-quarter GAAP earnings to range from 13 cents to 16 cents a share and non-GAAP earnings of 28 cents to 30 cents a share.