Adobe Inc. (ADBE)
Fair ValueFundamental
76
Price
$243.31
Market Cap
$94.97B
Part 1 · What the company is worth
Overview
Adobe makes the software that creative professionals, marketers and everyday users rely on to create, edit and manage digital content: Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro and Acrobat are used by designers, video editors and anyone who opens a PDF. A second, smaller business sells software that helps large companies run marketing campaigns and personalize websites. Nearly all of this reaches customers as a paid, ongoing subscription rather than a one-time software purchase.
How it makes money
Adobe charges recurring subscription fees for access to its creative and document tools, billed monthly or annually, so revenue builds up as the installed base of paying subscribers grows rather than depending on new-version sales. Its enterprise marketing software is sold through longer, higher-value contracts with large companies. Because the software is built once and resold to millions of users, additional subscribers cost little to serve, so the business carries high margins.
Revenue by segment
Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, Acrobat and the Creative Cloud and Document Cloud subscriptions built around them — Adobe's core business.
Software that helps large companies manage marketing campaigns, personalize websites and analyze customer data, sold on multi-year enterprise contracts.
A small, shrinking mix of legacy publishing tools and remaining advertising services outside Adobe's two main businesses.
Competitive moat
Switching costs · WideCreative professionals train for years on Photoshop and Premiere Pro, build workflows and file libraries around Adobe's formats, and work alongside colleagues who use the same tools. Switching an entire creative team, or an enterprise marketing stack, to a rival product means retraining people and rebuilding integrations most customers would rather avoid.
What drives demand
Moderately cyclicalSubscription renewals make revenue fairly steady from quarter to quarter, but new subscriber growth follows the health of the creative, marketing and small-business economy, and enterprise contract renewals depend on corporate technology budgets that get squeezed in a downturn.
Key risks
- Generative AI disruption — Rapid advances in generative AI let competitors and even free tools generate images, video and text that used to require Adobe's software, reducing the paid seats needed for the same creative work.
- Faster-moving competitors — Faster-moving competitors built around AI and browser-based collaboration are winning share in design and video, particularly among smaller customers and price-sensitive segments.
- Subscription churn — Adobe's business depends on customers renewing subscriptions rather than buying software once; price increases or a weaker economy can push customers to cancel or downgrade.
- Cybersecurity and data breaches — A breach involving customer content, creative files or payment data stored in Adobe's cloud services could damage trust in a business built on recurring access.
Customer concentration
Adobe states that no single customer accounted for 10% or more of revenue in any recent year; its subscriber base is broad enough that no one customer's decisions materially move results.
The case for
Buyers argue that decades of entrenched workflows around Photoshop, Premiere and Acrobat, now paired with Adobe's own generative AI tools built into the same subscriptions, make switching costly enough that the company can keep raising prices and adding AI features without losing its base.
The case against
Sellers fear that free or cheaper AI tools increasingly replace tasks that used to require a paid Adobe seat, that nimbler competitors are winning the youngest and most price-sensitive customers, and that a subscription business can lose ground quietly through cancellations before it shows up in growth numbers.
Written by the editors, published on August 18, 2026
Direct competitors
Who this company fights with for the same customers
Generated on August 23, 2026 with claude-opus-5 — shared with all users
Named by Adobe among its Digital Media competitors, Microsoft bundles document, design and video tools (Microsoft 365 with PDF editing, Designer, Clipchamp) into subscriptions bought by the same business professionals and consumers who buy Acrobat and Adobe Express.
Listed by Adobe as a Digital Experience competitor, Salesforce sells Marketing Cloud, Data Cloud and Commerce Cloud to the same enterprise marketing departments that Adobe Experience Cloud, Marketo Engage and Adobe Commerce are sold to.
DocuSign's e-signature and agreement-workflow subscriptions compete head-on with Adobe Acrobat Sign for the document business that generates Adobe's Acrobat revenue.
Canva's browser-based design platform targets the same everyday creators, marketers and small businesses that Adobe serves with Express and the lighter end of Creative Cloud, and its template-driven approach competes for the same subscription spend.
Figma sells collaborative interface- and product-design tools to the same professional design teams Adobe courts with Photoshop, Illustrator and its discontinued XD, a rivalry Adobe itself acknowledged with an attempted $20 billion acquisition.
Named by Adobe in its own competition disclosure, Corel offers CorelDRAW, Painter and Pinnacle Studio as lower-priced, often perpetual-licence alternatives to Illustrator, Photoshop and Premiere Pro for illustrators, photographers and video editors.
Balance Sheet & Liquidity
Revenue
$25.97B
Trailing 12 months (through 8/28/2026)
Net Income
$7.28B
Trailing 12 months (through 8/28/2026)
Free Cash Flow
$9.85B
Total Equity
$11.62B
Total Liabilities
$17.87B
Current Ratio
0.77
Interest Coverage
35.66
Debt/EBITDA
0.71
Earnings Per Share
Revenue & Net Income
Free Cash Flow
Income Breakdown
Historical statement
Margins over time
Debt over time
How heavy the debt is
Growth grid
Growth — Revenue
Fair Value Estimation
Fair Value
$273.66
Current Price
$243.31
Margin of Safety
+11.1%
Fair Value Range
$178.89 - $368.44
Spread across the valuation methods used, not a statistically calibrated confidence interval.
Estimation Methods
Valuation Metrics
P/E Ratio
13.40
ROE
61.3%
P/B Ratio
7.94
P/FCF
8.82
Gross Margin
89.3%
ROIC
40.5%
Profitability Radar
Value Creation (Economic Moat)
ROIC
40.5%
WACC
11.6%
ROIC − WACC
+28.9 pp
ROIC exceeds the cost of capital — the company is creating value for shareholders.
Fundamental Analysis Criteria
Passed (20)
- EPS shows upward trend
- EPS CAGR 15.70%
- Price CAGR 8.86%
- ROIC 40.5%
- Gross Margin 89.3%
- P/FCF 8.82
- Debt/Equity ratio
- Operating Margin 35.7%
- Positive Free Cash Flow
- CapEx intensity
- Current Ratio
- Interest Coverage
- Debt/EBITDA
- Return on Tangible Assets
- ROE 62.4%
- Revenue Growth 5Y 13.1%
- PEG Ratio 1.43
- Earnings Quality (OCF/NI) 1.48
- Share Dilution -5.1%
- Piotroski F-Score 7/9
Failed (7)
- P/B Ratio 7.94
- Low reliance on intangibles
- Price below Graham Number
- DCF valuation (Overvalued)
- Analyst Consensus 39% Buy
- Earnings Surprise avg 0.1%
- Net Margin Trend 28.0% vs 30.0%
Unavailable (1)
- Dividend Payout NaN%
Piotroski F-Score
Strong financial health
Earnings Quality
High quality: earnings backed by cash
Share Dilution
Buying back shares. Shareholder friendly
Institutional Holdings
Governance
Executive Team
| Name | Title | Age |
|---|---|---|
| Mr. Shantanu Narayen | Chairman & CEO | 61 |
| Ms. Adele Louise Pentland | EVP of Legal & Government Relations, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary | 53 |
| Mr. David Wadhwani | President of Creativity & Productivity Business | 53 |
| Dr. Anil S. Chakravarthy | President of Customer Experience Orchestration Business | 57 |
| Mr. Steven Day | Interim CFO and Senior VP of Finance, Technology, Security & Operations | 57 |
| Ms. Jillian Forusz | Senior VP, Chief Accounting Officer & Corporate Controller | 50 |
| Mr. Douglas G. Clark C.F.A. | Vice President of Investor Relations | - |
| Ms. Lara H. Balazs | Chief Marketing Officer & Executive Vice President of Global Marketing | 55 |
| Ms. Gloria Chen | Chief People Officer & Executive VP of Employee Experience | 60 |
| Mr. Shanmugh Natarajan | MD of India & VP of Products | - |
Audit Risk
1
Board Risk
6
Compensation Risk
10
Shareholder Rights Risk
1
Part 2 · The price and when to enter
This part won't tell you whether the company is worth owning: it helps you choose when to buy it, once the fundamentals have convinced you. Inside: technical analysis, potential, historical drawdowns, gamma exposure.
Documents
- View document
Annual Report (10-K)
A yearly overview of the business, its financial results, and the risks it faces.
Filed on 2026-01-15
- View document
Quarterly Report (10-Q)
A snapshot of financial performance for the most recent three-month period.
Filed on 2026-09-22
- View document
Current Report (8-K)
An announcement of a major event, such as a leadership change or big news.
Filed on 2026-09-10
via SEC EDGAR
Income History
via SEC EDGAR
Latest News
Recent headlines for ADBE, sourced from Markets Gazette.
- 20d agoNEGATIVEAnalista: il calo post-utili di Adobe non è solo per i timori sull'IA
Adobe shares experienced a significant decline, opening down on September 11th, a move senior analyst Gil Luria of D.A. Davidson deems justified despite his 'Buy' rating and $250 price target. While acknowledging concerns about AI disruption impacting Adobe's software business in 2026, Luria points out that AI fears are not the sole driver of the stock's underperformance. The stock is already down over 25% year-to-date. Investors are also grappling with recent executive leadership changes, which are further weighing on the stock's valuation and investor sentiment.
- 21d agoNEGATIVEAdobe’s latest earnings leave Wall Street wanting more
Adobe reported earnings that failed to meet Wall Street's elevated expectations, prompting an analyst to comment that simply meeting forecasts is insufficient in the current market climate. While specific figures were not detailed in the provided snippet, the sentiment suggests a performance shortfall relative to consensus estimates. This outcome could signal underlying challenges in Adobe's business operations or market positioning, potentially leading to a reassessment of its growth prospects by investors and a downward pressure on its stock price.
- 21d agoNEUTRALLe azioni Adobe sono calate dopo 15 degli ultimi 20 utili: l'AI può cambiarlo?
Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) is set to report its third-quarter fiscal results, with analysts projecting revenues around $6.69 billion and adjusted earnings per share of approximately $6.08. Despite consistently beating Wall Street's expectations, Adobe's stock has a history of declining post-earnings, having fallen after 15 of the last 20 reports. The stock closed at $254.86 on Wednesday, down approximately 27% year-to-date. While Adobe continues to meet earnings targets, investor sentiment appears to hinge on future growth drivers, potentially related to AI integration, to reverse the negative trend.
- 23d agoPOSITIVEThese software stocks are in a prime spot to benefit from a rapidly shifting AI landscape
Adobe Inc. has been identified as a top software company poised to capitalize on the evolving AI landscape, particularly due to its strong cash generation capabilities. This positions Adobe favorably against sector peers like Microsoft and Oracle, which were noted for lower cash generation in the same analysis. The company's robust financial health, underscored by its cash generation metrics, suggests a strong foundation for continued investment in AI research and development, potentially leading to innovative product offerings and sustained market leadership. Investors may view this as a positive indicator of future growth and profitability.
- 27d agoNEGATIVEAzioni Adobe -7% dopo la nomina del nuovo CEO e il rimpasto ai vertici
Adobe Inc. shares plummeted nearly 7% following the announcement of a significant leadership transition. Anil Chakravarthy is set to assume the roles of President and CEO on December 1, 2026, succeeding Shantanu Narayen, who will move to Executive Chairman. While Narayen expressed confidence in Chakravarthy's expertise and the company's future growth prospects, the market reacted negatively to the news. This leadership change occurs amidst intensified competition and evolving AI integration challenges within the software sector, raising investor concerns about the company's strategic direction and ability to navigate these pressures.
- 28d agoNEGATIVEAdobe just announced its next CEO. Here’s why its stock is dropping.
Adobe Inc. is experiencing a stock decline following the announcement of its new CEO, Anil Chakravarthy. While Chakravarthy is a company veteran, the simultaneous departure of another long-standing business head suggests potential for broader leadership changes within the organization. This uncertainty surrounding executive transitions, coupled with the departure of key personnel, has created investor apprehension, leading to a negative market reaction. Investors will be closely monitoring the strategic direction under new leadership and the impact on Adobe's future growth prospects.
- 8/28/2026POSITIVEAnalisi Adobe: si forma un golden cross in avvicinamento agli utili
Adobe Inc. shares have experienced a significant rally, climbing 52% from their yearly low and reaching their highest point since February. This upward momentum is further supported by the formation of a golden cross on its daily chart, a bullish technical indicator suggesting a potential for continued gains. The stock has recovered from a June low of $190 to its current price of $289, driven by investor dip-buying and a broader rebound in software stocks. The positive sentiment is amplified by the strong performance of Salesforce following its earnings report, indicating a favorable environment for tech companies. Investors will be closely watching Adobe's upcoming earnings report for further confirmation of its growth trajectory.
- 8/27/2026NEUTRALNasdaq-100® Inside the Index: Adobe (ADBE)
Adobe Inc. (ADBE), a key component of the Nasdaq-100®, is highlighted for its subscription-based software offerings in creative and document management. The analysis focuses on the company's competitive strengths, its growth trajectory fueled by artificial intelligence, and its strategy of leveraging free AI tools to attract new users and secure future recurring revenue. This deep dive into ADBE's business model and AI integration provides investors with insights into its long-term value proposition within the tech sector.
via Markets Gazette