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Digital media software firm Adobe Systems ( ADBE ) late Thursday beat Wall Street’s targets for its fiscal 2016 first-quarter earnings and sales, as revenue growth accelerated for the third straight quarter. Adobe stock jumped as much 8.6% in after-hours trading Thursday, putting it in record high territory. During the regular session, Adobe rose 2% to 89.96. Adobe stock hit an all-time high of 96.42 on Dec. 17. Adobe earned 66 cents a share excluding items on sales of $1.38 billion for the quarter ended March 4. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected Adobe to earn 61 cents ex items on sales of $1.34 billion. On a year-over-year basis, non-GAAP EPS was up 50% and revenue was up 25%. For the fiscal second quarter, Adobe expects revenue of $1.365 billion to $1.415 billion. It expects to report non-GAAP earnings per share of 64 to 70 cents. At the midpoint of guidance, Adobe is targeting EPS minus items of 67 cents on sales of $1.39 billion. For fiscal Q2, analysts were modeling earnings of 65 cents a share minus items, up 35%, on sales of $1.39 billion, up 20%. The San Jose, Calif.-based company also guided sales and earnings higher for the full year. Adobe expects to earn about $2.80 a share on a non-GAAP basis, up from its prior target of $2.70. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were modeling for $2.76 EPS excluding items for the full fiscal year. Adobe is forecasting full-year revenue of $5.8 billion, up from its prior target of $5.7 billion. “Every day, more brands, government agencies and educational institutions globally are choosing to base their digital strategies on Adobe’s content and data platforms,” Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen said in a statement. “Our exceptional performance in Q1 is an indicator of the strong momentum we are seeing across our cloud businesses as we drive the experience economy.” Like Microsoft ( MSFT ), Adobe has earned the favor of investors through its transition from desktop software to Internet cloud computing services. Adobe has three cloud computing businesses: Creative Cloud, Marketing Cloud and Document Cloud. The biggest is Creative Cloud, which includes well-known products for creative professionals such as Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. Marketing Cloud provides online marketing and advertising services. Document Cloud leverages Adobe’s popular online document-sharing product Acrobat and its ubiquitous PDF format. “Adobe’s year is off to a strong start,” Narayen said on a conference call with analysts. “Adobe’s opportunity has never been greater … Our market leadership, product differentiation and continued momentum give us confidence to raise our FY16 revenue and earnings targets.” Adobe is through the rough part of its transition from a seller of licensed software to a provider of software-as-a-service. Over the last four quarters, year-over-year revenue growth has accelerated. Sales rose 9% in Q2 2015, 21% in Q3, 22% in Q4 and 25% last quarter. Earnings per share have grown in the double digits for six straight quarters, with average growth of 50%. Annualized recurring revenue in Adobe’s core Digital Media segment grew to $3.13 billion last quarter, an increase of $246 million. Adobe now expects to exit fiscal 2016 with Digital Media annualized recurring revenue of about $4 billion. That’s up from its prior target of $3.875 billion. Digital Media segment sales rose 33% year over year to $932 million in Q1. Digital Marketing segment sales rose 14% to $406 million. “Strong Cloud adoption drove record Creative and Marketing Cloud revenue in Q1, and better-than-expected Digital Media (annualized recurring revenue),” Adobe Chief Financial Officer Mark Garrett said in a statement. “Based on our strong Q1 results and business momentum, we are increasing our annual revenue and earnings targets for the year.” Under generally accepted accounting principles, Adobe’s earnings per share were 50 cents in fiscal Q1. Analysts were expecting 39 cents GAAP EPS. GAAP earnings include the impact of stock-based compensation. For its current fiscal Q2, Adobe is targeting GAAP EPS of 42 to 48 cents, or 45 cents at the midpoint. Wall Street had been modeling for 43 cents. Scalper1 News
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