Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) reported third-quarter fiscal 2026 revenue of $6.76 billion, up 13% year over year as reported and 12% in constant currency, while also announcing a leadership transition that will take effect Dec. 1.
Chair and CEO Shantanu Narayen said GAAP earnings per share rose 11% from a year earlier to $4.62, while non-GAAP EPS increased 15% to $6.13. The company ended the quarter with $27.5 billion in annual recurring revenue, up 11.2% year over year, and generated a quarterly record of $2.52 billion in operating cash flow.
Leadership Transition Set for December
Adobe said Anil Chakravarthy, currently president of customer experience and orchestration, will become the company’s next president, chief executive officer and a member of its board effective Dec. 1. Narayen, who has spent 29 years at Adobe, will serve as executive chair and said he will work with Chakravarthy to support the transition.
“Anil is the right person to chart Adobe’s growth in this agentic era,” Narayen said, citing Chakravarthy’s experience building products across Adobe’s businesses.
Chakravarthy said he sees an opportunity for Adobe to lead in “agentic software” across creativity, productivity and customer experience. He said customers are seeking software that supports conversational and traditional interfaces, offers access to various AI models, incorporates enterprise context and data, and delivers predictable results.
In response to analyst questions, Chakravarthy said his experience leading Adobe’s enterprise field operations since 2020 has given him exposure to all of the company’s product categories and customer segments, from individuals and small businesses to more than 20,000 enterprise customers.
Document and Creative Businesses Post Subscription Growth
Subscription revenue from Adobe’s business professionals and consumers segment was $1.91 billion, up 16% as reported and 15% in constant currency. The company said Acrobat plus Express monthly active users surpassed 900 million, rising more than 25% year over year, while Acrobat AI Assistant monthly active users doubled sequentially.
Chakravarthy highlighted new Acrobat capabilities powered by the Adobe Productivity Agent. According to the company, the offerings can turn documents into interactive reports, summary slides and audio formats, while new knowledge-base and analysis functions allow teams to query large document collections. Adobe also said it expanded Acrobat access across platforms including ChatGPT, Chrome, Microsoft Edge and WhatsApp.
Creative and marketing professional subscription revenue totaled $4.65 billion, up 13% as reported and 12% in constant currency. Adobe said Firefly ending ARR from its application and credit packs grew 40% sequentially, supported by accelerating credit consumption across Creative Cloud and Firefly.
Narayen told analysts that video generation has been a particular driver of Firefly activity. He also said AI credit consumption has been robust in Adobe’s core Creative Cloud desktop applications, reflecting broader integration of AI into product usage.
Adobe said it expanded its Creative Agent into Photoshop and Premiere and added native generation of music, speech and sound effects to Firefly. The company also announced an agreement to acquire Topaz Labs, whose AI enhancement technology is expected to be integrated into Creative Cloud, Firefly and Adobe’s enterprise creative offerings. Adobe expects the transaction to close in the fourth quarter, subject to regulatory approvals and customary conditions.
Enterprise AI Products Gain Adoption
Adobe said its customer experience strategy centers on Adobe Experience Platform and customer-engagement applications, GenStudio for content supply chains, and Experience Manager and agentic web applications for brand visibility.
The company introduced Adobe Brand Visibility, which combines Semrush AI visibility intelligence with Adobe’s content-optimization capabilities. Adobe said the product uses a database of nearly 300 million real-world AI search prompts to help customers understand how their brands appear across platforms including ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity AI.
Adobe said the number of paid customers for brand-visibility solutions doubled sequentially. It also reported more than 1,700 customers and early adopters of CX Enterprise Coworker, an AI agent that coordinates marketing and customer-engagement workflows across analytics, content creation and journey orchestration.
Ending ARR for Adobe Experience Manager and agentic web applications, Adobe GenStudio, and Adobe Experience Platform and applications each increased more than 20% year over year, according to the company.
Guidance Raised for Fiscal 2026
For the fourth quarter, Adobe forecast total revenue of $6.8 billion to $6.85 billion, including business professionals and consumer subscription revenue of $1.93 billion to $1.95 billion and creative and marketing professional subscription revenue of $4.665 billion to $4.695 billion. The company projected GAAP EPS of $4.65 to $4.70 and non-GAAP EPS of $6.30 to $6.35.
Adobe raised its full-year fiscal 2026 outlook, targeting:
- Total revenue of $26.576 billion to $26.626 billion.
- Business professionals and consumer subscription revenue of $7.47 billion to $7.49 billion.
- Creative and marketing professional subscription revenue of $18.242 billion to $18.272 billion.
- GAAP EPS of $18.12 to $18.17.
- Non-GAAP EPS of $24.45 to $24.50.
Interim CFO Steve Day said the company’s updated fourth-quarter outlook reflected a roughly $50 million increase at the midpoint from its prior guidance, although foreign exchange creates a slight headwind. He said Adobe expects the fourth quarter to remain seasonally strong, particularly for enterprise activity.
Adobe repurchased approximately 9.5 million shares during the quarter and ended the period with $5.64 billion in cash and short-term investments. The company said it had approximately $24.55 billion remaining under its April 2026 share-repurchase authorization.
About Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE)
Adobe Inc (NASDAQ:ADBE) develops software and services used for digital content creation, document management and digital experiences. The company serves creative professionals, marketers, enterprises, educators and consumers worldwide through subscription-based and cloud-enabled products.
Adobe’s Creative Cloud portfolio includes applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro and After Effects, along with related tools for photography, graphic design, video production and web development.
