Adobe Systems Inc, the largest maker of graphic-design software, forecast second-quarter earnings that are lower than analysts’ estimates as the earthquake and tsunami in Japan curb sales.
Profit excluding some costs will be US$0.47 to US$0.54 a share in the current quarter, Adobe said in a statement on Tuesday. That compared with the US$0.56 average of analysts’ projections compiled by Bloomberg.
Revenue will be US$970 million to US$1.02 billion, Adobe said. Analysts had estimated sales of US$1.04 billion.
Adobe lowered its revenue forecast by US$50 million because of the disaster in Japan, where the company gets 10 to 15 percent of its revenue each quarter, making it Adobe’s second-largest market after the US.
Some analysts had expected a bigger sales impact after the March 11 quake and tsunami shut down some power and transportation systems and disrupted business.
“The other portions of the business are doing well, and the big issue is the tragedy in Japan,” Adobe chief financial officer Mark Garrett said in an interview. “We saw a noticeable drop in our revenue.”
The San Jose, California-based company doesn’t know how long sales that would have occurred in March — when many companies and the government in Japan approach the end of their fiscal year on March 31 — will be delayed, Garrett said.
In the first quarter, which ended on March 4, Adobe earned US$0.46 a share in net income. Sales rose 20 percent to US$1.03 billion. Excluding some costs, the company said profit was US$0.58, topping analysts’ average estimate of US$0.57.
Adobe plans to release an update to its Creative Suite software that will make it easier for designers to build Web sites using the HTML5 Internet standard. Adobe released Creative Suite 5, which includes the Photoshop and Illustrator programs, in April last year. The next major version will be released next year, CEO Shantanu Narayen said in a conference call on Tuesday.
The HTML5 standard, which is supported by Apple Inc and Google Inc, competes with Adobe’s Flash Internet video and animation software. In the past year, Adobe has clashed with Apple, which bans Flash on the iPad tablet computer and iPhone handset.
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