A shift to the cloud lifts these top techs

Article Excerpt

ADOBE SYSTEMS INC. $138.25 (Nasdaq symbol ADBE; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (408-536-6000; www.adobe.com; Shares outstanding: 494.7 million; Market cap: $68.4 billion; No dividends paid) makes software that lets computer users create, edit and share documents in the popular PDF format. Graphic designers also use its programs to create print publications and webpages. The company continues to benefit from strong demand for its subscription services, particularly its Creative Cloud package of photo-editing and desktop-publishing programs. For its fiscal 2017 first quarter, ended March 3, 2017, Adobe earned $0.94 a share. Those earnings are up 42.4% from $0.66 a share a year earlier. Revenue jumped 21.6%, to $1.7 billion from $1.4 billion. The company continues to move away from the sale of software as a one-time purchase; it now gets 82% of its revenue from recurring sources (subscriptions). Adobe spends a high 17% of its sales on research. That investment helps it compete in a rapidly changing industry. However, the stock trades at a high 35 times…