Adobe shares are surging as Wall Street is growing more bullish on the company’s new product road map.
Its shares were up 10 percent shortly after Thursday’s market open to a new all-time high, a day after Adobe held its analyst day in Las Vegas. The company gave strong earnings-per-share guidance for fiscal 2018 of $5.50 versus the $5.21 Thomson Reuters consensus at the session.
“The influence of the company’s Sensei AI platform was prominent in nearly all product announcements and management commentary, suggesting that Adobe feels its AI capabilities serve as a key differentiator and drive value throughout its core services,” Stifel analyst Tom Roderick wrote in a note to clients Thursday.
In addition to the artificial intelligence features, others on Wall Street emphasized the company’s new cloud subscription software offerings.
“Our biggest takeaway from the Adobe MAX keynote was the higher number of material new product announcements,” KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Brent Bracelin wrote in a note to clients Wednesday. “One of Adobe’s cornerstone products, Lightroom, was re-engineered as a cloud-based application; multiple new products were rolled out.”
Bracelin cited how the company announced a price increase for its products for the first time in five years.
“The price increases reinforce our view that Creative Cloud can continue to generate high growth,” he added.
As a result, the analyst reiterated his overweight rating and raised his price target for Adobe shares to $178 from $174.
Adobe has been one of the best-performing stocks in the market. Its shares rallied 49 percent year to date through Wednesday versus the S&P 500’s 14 percent return.
One Wall Street analyst is optimistic about the company’s ability to maintain its competitive position.
“Mgmt was upbeat on growth opportunities across all segments,” Jefferies analyst Brent Thill wrote in a note to clients Thursday. “Adobe remains the leading solutions provider to the shift to digital content, with growth drivers intact, combined with high mgns & cash flows.”
Thill reaffirmed his buy rating and raised his price target for Adobe to $190 from $180.
Adobe hits new all-time high as Wall Street loves its new A.I., cloud products