This Story Posted:
December 17th
10:46 AM/CST

 
 

Thursday, December 17th

Adobe Achieves Record Quarter
[10:46 AM] Adobe released the results from their fiscal 4th quarter of 1998. The company announced record revenue of US$246.7 million during the quarter, though the company actually saw a decrease in revenue when compared to 1997. From Adobe:

"Adobe achieved record revenue of $246.7 million, compared to $227.1 million reported for the fourth quarter of fiscal 1997 and $222.9 million reported in the third quarter of fiscal 1998. Net income for the fourth quarter was $50.3 million, compared to $46.8 million reported in the same quarter of fiscal 1997 and $152,000 in the third quarter of fiscal 1998. Diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter were $0.78 based on 64.2 million weighted average shares. Included in the earnings is a $0.02 gain related to Adobe's venture investment activity. This compares with diluted earnings per share of $0.64 reported in the fourth quarter of fiscal 1997 that included an $0.08 gain related to Adobe's venture investment activity, based on 73.7 million weighted average shares."

Adobe cited record sales of Illustrator 8 and Acrobat as well as successful introductions of both ImageReady and ImageStyler.

The Mac Observer Spin: Gone from the report, which is required by the SEC, is the refrain that a slow down in the Mac market is the cause for Adobe's declining sales. What is particularly interesting is that while Adobe usually cites a growth in Windows related sales and a decline in Mac related sales, yesterday's report is completely devoid of any mention of either platform what-so-ever. Looking at Apple's last 6 months, it would be easy to jump to the conclusion that Adobe has actually seen a rise in Mac software sales and is reluctant to admit it. We are waiting for word from Adobe on this issue.

Follow Up:
[3:45 PM]Adobe did in fact see an increase of Mac sales this quarter of 8.1% over Q4 of 1997 and 3.8% over Q3 of 1997, but the overall percentage of total sales actually fell. This means that Windows sales increased at a higher rate than did Apple. Mac based sales fell 2% against last year's Q4 and 1% against Q3 of this year.

The breakdown is as follows: Q4 1998 platform sales came in at 58% Windows and 42% Mac, while Q3 1998 were 56% WIndows and 44% Mac. Q4 of 1997 were 57% Windows and 43% Mac.

Adobe