Analysts believe Adobe’s foray into artificial intelligence will boost its business. The company may soon give clues on just how much.
The software giant is expected to release its fourth-quarter results Dec. 13, and revenue is poised to reach $5 billion for the first time.
The Photoshop creator anticipates revenue to be between $4.96 billion and $5.03 billion. For the full year the company forecasts total revenue of $19.4 billion, up $2 billion from the prior fiscal year.
Adobe foresees earnings per share to be between $3.10 and $3.15. Excluding one-time adjustments, it expects earnings of $4.10 to $4.15, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $4.14 per share.
“We continue to like the way AI has bridged gaps between the company’s clouds with new GenAI innovations for the experience and document clouds aligning the technology across the product suite,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Matthew Swanson said in an October report.
Since introducing Firefly, its family of new creative generative AI models in March, Adobe has continued to highlight its strategic roadmap for generative artificial intelligence. This includes the commercial release of Firefly and its integration to video and photo editing programs, upgrades to its existing fold, a price hike and protected creative-content licensing to avoid legal ramifications. Adobe expects that Firefly users will become adept enough to use the applications, pay for the optimized plans, and become Adobe members in the long term, allowing the company to maintain the momentum gained during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Adobe Creative Cloud programs, including Illustrator, Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Adobe Stock are just a few of applications that have already received several upgrades and AI capabilities.
After its MAX event on Oct. 10 – a creative conference held by Adobe to showcase its latest app – analysts shared confidence in the traction AI-enhanced products provide the company with.
The tech giant did not specify on projections for the quarter but said it would continue being a strong one.
The company highlighted a 55% growth in active monthly users of Adobe Express, its all-in-one app to create content such as fliers, TikTok videos and logos that now has Firefly capabilities included with it.
As a result of so far demonstrating how it can profit from artificial intelligence, Adobe stock has soared. Shares this year have risen 77%, compared to the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite is up 34% for 2023.
Adobe expects the impact from AI and other digital innovations to be greater in 2024, rather than the upcoming quarter.
For the third-quarter, which ended Sept. 1, Adobe reported $4.89 billion in sales, up 10% year over year. The key drivers of the growth are the increase in digital media sales and increase in digital experience revenues. Subscription revenue comprised 95% of Adobe’s total revenue during the quarter.
And although new price changes for Adobe’s programs with AI capabilities only went up on Nov. 1, experts don’t expect consumers to make a fuss and leave Adobe all together.
“We are impressed with how quickly Firefly popularity has spread,” wrote Brent Bracelin, a senior research analyst at Piper Sandler, in a research note to investors. Bracelin added how there has been a shift in the popularity of Firefly compared to its image generator competitors, Midjourney and Stability AI.