Adobe 3Q Net Tops Street View, Sees Strong 4Q

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) posted quarterly profits that beat Wall Street's expectations after the closing bell on Tuesday, and said it expects to have a stronger fourth quarter than analysts anticipated, which sent the shares jumping.

Adobe is "aligning around two large initiatives: Content Authoring and Digital Marketing," said  Shantanu Narayen, president and CEO of Adobe.  "Each of these opportunities offers significant growth potential, and Adobe is well-positioned to be the market leader in both.

The software company said it earned 39 cents a share in the third quarter, less than the 44 cents it earned in the same period last year.  Excluding one-time costs, profits were 55 cents, beating the consensus expectation by a penny.

Adobe's sales increased to $1.01 billion during the quarter, higher than the $990.32 million last year, but narrowly missing forecasts of $1.03 billion.

Looking forward, Adobe expects it will earn between 57 cents and 64 cents during the fourth quarter, coming in at the high range of forecasts of 54 cents to 61 cents.

The San Jose, Calif., company's sales expectations were also higher than anticipated, at $1.08 billion to $1.13 billion compared with $1.07 billion to $1.11 billion.

The shares jumped more than 3% in after-hours trading following the release.