S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) reported its results for the third quarter. Adobe Systems Inc. offers a line of creative, business, Web and mobile software and services used by creative professionals, knowledge workers, consumers, original equipment manufacturers, developers and enterprises.

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Adobe Systems Incorporated Earnings Cheat Sheet for the Third Quarter

Results: Net income for the application software company fell to $195.1 million (39 cents per share) vs. $230.1 million (44 cents per share) a year earlier. This is a decline of 15.2% from the year earlier quarter.

Revenue: Rose 2.3% to $1.01 billion from the year earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: ADBE reported adjusted net income of 55 cents per share. By that measure, the company beat the mean estimate of 44 cents per share. Analysts were expecting revenue of $994.8 million.

Quoting Management: “Our industry is in the midst of a major transformation,” said Shantanu Narayen, president and CEO of Adobe. “We are aligning around two large initiatives: Content Authoring and Digital Marketing. Each of these opportunities offers significant growth potential, and Adobe is well-positioned to be the market leader in both.”

Key Stats:

Gross margin shrank 0.3 percentage point to 89.7%. The contraction appeared to be driven by increased costs, which rose 5.6% from the year earlier quarter while revenue rose 2.3%.

Revenue has risen the past four quarters. Revenue increased 8.5% to $1.02 billion in the second quarter. The figure rose 19.7% in the first quarter from the year earlier and climbed 33.1% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year from the year-ago quarter.

The company beat estimates last quarter after falling short in the previous two quarters. In the second quarter, it missed the mark by 2 cents, and in the first quarter, it fell short by 4 cents.

Competitors to Watch: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL), Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK), Sonic Solutions (NASDAQ:SNIC), Monotype Imaging Hldgs. Inc. (NASDAQ:TYPE), Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ:BITS), Intl. Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM), and Sonic Foundry, Inc. (NASDAQ:SOFO).

Investing Insights: Steve Jobs Prepares to Deliver a New Catalyst for Apple’s Stock.

(Source: Xignite Financials)

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