Gavekal Capital: Investors Are Happy About Adobe's Subscription Adoption

Friday, December 13, 2013

Investors Are Happy About Adobe's Subscription Adoption

Adobe is up over 10% today after releasing their financials for the fiscal 4Q after the bell yesterday. Adobe has made a strategic shift from a licensing model to a subscription model. This has angered quite a few customers but  it seems that customers are making the shift nonetheless. The transition is happening faster than management originally laid out. They are on track to pass goals set for 2013 as well as for goals in 2014. The latest quarter’s sales and EPS actually came in lower than expected (due primarily to promotions and the fact they are selling fewer full versions of its highest priced desktop software) but the shift to subscriptions allows Adobe to reduce their reliance on packaged software as PC sales decline and increase their annualized recurring revenue (ARR) goals. It seems there are only blue skies ahead for Adobe in the near-term. 

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