Adobe's 1Q Profit Falls 65%, But Trumps Wall Street

Led by further bookings in its Creative Cloud that boosted sales, Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) reported stronger-than-expected first-quarter earnings late Tuesday, sending its shares sharply higher in extended trade.

Weighed down by higher expenses, the San Jose, Calif.-based software maker reported net income of $65.1 million, or 13 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $185.2 million, or 37 cents.

Excluding one-time items, though, the maker of Photoshop and Acrobat said it earned 35 cents, topping average analyst estimates of 31 cents in a Thomson Reuters poll.

Revenue for the three months ended March 1 dipped slightly to $1.0 billion from $1.05 billion a year ago but beat the Street’s view of $986 million.

Adobe continues to accelerate adoption of the subscription-based Adobe Creative Cloud, ending the period with 479,000 paid Cloud members, an increase of 153,000 over the prior period.

"Creative Cloud is quickly becoming mainstream, with the overwhelming majority of Creative purchases on Adobe.com now being Creative Cloud subscriptions," said Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen.

Adobe Marketing Cloud, meanwhile, reported a 20% year-over-year increase in revenue to $215.4 million. Booking growth was strong during the quarter and Adobe achieved a 25% improvement in digital marketing revenue.

The company is building a “stronger, more predictable recurring revenue model,” which Adobe Chief Financial Officer Mark Garrett said will “drive higher long-term growth.”

Shares of Adobe climbed 6% after hours to more than $43.