Topic: Growth Stocks

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, September 24, 2010

Article Excerpt

ADOBE SYSTEMS INC., $26.88, Nasdaq symbol ADBE, reported record-high quarterly revenue and stronger-than-expected earnings this week. However, the software maker warned that its earnings in the current quarter will be hurt by slowing sales of its Creative Suite 5 software package to U.S. schools. The weak Japanese economy is also hurting demand for this product. The warning caused the stock to fall 19%. Creative Suite 5, which accounts for about 55% of Adobe’s revenue, is a package of photo-editing and desktop-publishing programs. In its third quarter, which ended September 3, 2010, Adobe earned $284.0 million. That’s up 52.6% from $186.1 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 54.3%, to $0.54 from $0.35, on fewer shares outstanding. These figures exclude several non-recurring items, such as gains on sales of investments. On that basis, the latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $0.49 a share. Revenue rose 42.0%, to a record $990.3 million from $697.5 million. That beat the consensus revenue estimate of…