Justin Sullivan/Getty Images News Investment Thesis Adobe Inc. ( ADBE ) has fallen 32.63% over the past twelve months and is trading 66.85% below its all-time high of $688 in 2021. Three forces led the decline: a sector-wide SaaS de-rating, fears that generative AI will make Adobe less competitive, and uncertainty regarding the CEO transition. The market has punished the stock accordingly, but I t...
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images News Investment Thesis Adobe Inc. ( ADBE ) has fallen 32.63% over the past twelve months and is trading 66.85% below its all-time high of $688 in 2021. Three forces led the decline: a sector-wide SaaS de-rating, fears that generative AI will make Adobe less competitive, and uncertainty regarding the CEO transition. The market has punished the stock accordingly, but I think it is overdone. In the article, I discuss the reasons why I think Adobe is undervalued and warrants a Strong Buy rating. Business Overview Adobe operates under three segments. Digital Media (Creative Cloud and Document Cloud) accounts for 75% of revenue; Digital Experience (Adobe Experience Platform, GenStudio, Marketo, Adobe Commerce) accounts for 24%; and the legacy Publishing and Advertising segment accounts for <1%. Nearly all of Adobe’s sales are subscription revenue. In Q1 FY2026, subscriptions totalled $6.17 billion , or 96% of the top line. Distribution runs through the main website, app stores, enterprise contracts, and resellers. Gross margins are 89%, while TTM ARR was at $26.06 billion. Starting in Q1 FY2026, Adobe restructured its reporting around customer groups. Business Professionals and Consumers subscription revenue grew 16% YoY to $1.8 billion, while Creative and Marketing Professionals subscription revenue grew 12% YoY to $4.4 billion. Enterprise momentum was particularly notable, with AEP, native apps, and GenStudio ending ARR growing over 30% YoY . Adobe’s top-line growth has been consistent, ranging between +10% and ~13% in the past 12 quarters. Valuation Adobe is trading at $229.94. Its valuation and financials against peers are outlined below. Metric ADBE CRWD MSFT ORCL APP NET Peer Avg EV/Sales 3.81 20.56 9.05 8.13 23.65 31.51 18.58 P/S 3.82 21.48 8.94 6.21 23.43 31.78 18.37 P/B 8.17 23.34 6.99 10.33 60.17 47.22 29.61 Current Ratio 0.91 1.77 1.39 1.35 3.32 1.98 1.96 Net Debt-to-Assets -0.01 -0.40 0.05 0.50 0.16 -0.10 0.04 Interest Coverage 37....
Digital wizard John Gerrard on the energy industry, Michaela Yearwood-Dan’s first UK museum exhibition and a foreboding view from Artemis II – all in your weekly dispatch Extraction This ominous exhibition takes a look at the filthy world of oil, gas and petroleum, all seen through the lens of artists such as biomorphic sculptor Marguerite Humeau and digital wizard John Gerrard. • Jupiter Artland,...
Digital wizard John Gerrard on the energy industry, Michaela Yearwood-Dan’s first UK museum exhibition and a foreboding view from Artemis II – all in your weekly dispatch Extraction This ominous exhibition takes a look at the filthy world of oil, gas and petroleum, all seen through the lens of artists such as biomorphic sculptor Marguerite Humeau and digital wizard John Gerrard. • Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh , 11 April to 26 July Continue reading...
The Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said vessels transiting the strait should use designated routes to avoid naval mines. Iran has released a map of alternative shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz as it seeks to claim control over the critical oil chokepoint as maritime traffic remained largely frozen. The Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said vessels transiting...
The Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said vessels transiting the strait should use designated routes to avoid naval mines. Iran has released a map of alternative shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz as it seeks to claim control over the critical oil chokepoint as maritime traffic remained largely frozen. The Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said vessels transiting the strait should use designated routes to avoid naval mines, according to a statement carried Thursday by state-run Nour News.
Three days after Bill Ackman pitched a deal for Universal Music Group NV that he estimates values the record label giant at €56 billion ($66 billion), the Dutch company’s stock remains steadfastly below the offer price. The shares traded at € 19.30 in Amsterdam on Friday, a far cry from the €30.40 that Ackman said his deal is worth. The gap reflects skepticism among analysts and investors that his...
Three days after Bill Ackman pitched a deal for Universal Music Group NV that he estimates values the record label giant at €56 billion ($66 billion), the Dutch company’s stock remains steadfastly below the offer price. The shares traded at € 19.30 in Amsterdam on Friday, a far cry from the €30.40 that Ackman said his deal is worth. The gap reflects skepticism among analysts and investors that his Pershing Square Capital Management can secure the support it needs from two thirds of shareholders to get the deal over the line. Indeed, there’s an impression among some market participants that Ackman’s pitch was never a serious proposal, and more an attempt to push through strategic change at a company whose stock has languished since it was listed in 2021. Pershing bought a 10% stake in UMG ahead of the firm’s listing, and remains among its biggest shareholders after selling a 2.7% stake about a year ago. “We see the merger proposal as a form of activism,” Wolfe Research analysts led by Peter Supino wrote in a note. “Pershing’s long-term and shareholder-driven perspective would set up better financial disclosure and guidance, enhanced cost reductions, and shareholder driven capital allocation.” Among the potential obstacles to the proposed deal is its complexity. Pershing aims to combine the record label with an acquisition vehicle publicly traded in the US in a cash-and-stock transaction, and also plans to sell UMG’s stake in Spotify Technology SA, change the dividend policy and increase its net debt threshold. Read More: Ackman Pitches $65 Billion UMG Deal to Move Listing to US According to Jérôme Bodin , an analyst at Oddo Bhf, the complexity of the plan suggests Ackman’s real desire is just to “shake things up” as opposed to orchestrating a takeover. However, the biggest hurdle is likely to be gaining the necessary shareholder approval. For the deal to happen, Ackman needs two thirds of investors to agree, including French billionaire Vincent Bolloré, who is UMG’s ...
A substantial minority shareholder of Tata Sons Pvt. reiterated its call for a public listing of the Tata Group holding company, as it sought to convince Indian regulators that such a move is essential to unlock value for investors. “A timely listing of Tata Sons is not merely a regulatory compliance but a necessary evolution,” Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry, chairman of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group , ...
A substantial minority shareholder of Tata Sons Pvt. reiterated its call for a public listing of the Tata Group holding company, as it sought to convince Indian regulators that such a move is essential to unlock value for investors. “A timely listing of Tata Sons is not merely a regulatory compliance but a necessary evolution,” Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry, chairman of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group , said in a statement Friday. The SP Group owns 18.4% of Tata Sons. The renewed push follows a similar appeal made in October when the SP group argued how a listing would benefit more than 120 million shareholders of listed Tata companies, which include Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. and Tata Motors, the owner of Jaguar Land Rover . It also comes just days after Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra said the regulator is preparing a new, soon-to-be-released framework for classifying shadow banks into upper, middle, and base layers. In 2022, the RBI designated Tata Sons as an “upper-layer” non-banking financial institution — a category that requires firms to go public within three years of the classification. NOTE: India’s RBI Proposes Tweaks to Categorize Large Shadow Banks “We repose full faith in the Government of India and the Reserve Bank of India to act decisively,” Mistry said. While a public float has long been opposed by Tata Trusts, the majority holder of Tata Sons, due to concerns around dilution of its control over the group’s listed companies, Shapoorji’s latest demand is aimed at amping up pressure on the central bank to enforce a public listing. Any delay in an initial public offering would effectively close a potential liquidity window for the debt-laden conglomerate, which has struggled with financial stress exacerbated by the pandemic. The group has previously tapped private credit markets by pledging part of the holding. Its stake in Tata Sons, however, remains illiquid, making a resolution critical to its debt-reduction plans. The listing of Tata S...