Adobe Inc (ADBE) stock analysis
Adobe Inc (ADBE) clears 5 of this site's 8 mechanical value filters, 7 of 8 Buffett-style checks and 5 of 5 Lynch-style checks. At $270.55 it trades 45.1% below this site's neutral DCF value (a margin of safety of +45.1%). Its earnings quality rates Strong and it returns +9.4% to shareholders net of dilution. Figures are as of October 23, 2026, from SEC filings and market data refreshed weekly; this is educational analysis, not investment advice.
Data as of October 23, 2026. Refreshed weekly from SEC filings and market data.
What does Adobe do?
Adobe sells creative, document and marketing software, mostly as subscriptions. Its tools are the industry standard for editing photos, video and design, and its PDF software handles documents for businesses and consumers.
Brands and businesses it owns
- Photoshop
- Illustrator
- Premiere Pro
- After Effects
- Acrobat
- Adobe Express
- Firefly
- Frame.io
- Adobe Experience Cloud
What stands out about Adobe?
- The share price implies shrinking cash flow. At $270.55, ADBE's free cash flow of $28.87 per share would have to shrink 6.6% a year at first, then recover to 2.5% growth by year 10, for this site's DCF (10% discount rate) to match the price. This site's baseline starts at 8% growth, so the price asks for less growth than the baseline. Change the assumptions.
- Misses 1 of the 8 value filters. It fails Price/Book < 8 (8.44); the other 5 pass and 2 were not evaluated. See every filter.
- The margin of safety is falling. It went from +49% on Oct 7 to +45% on Oct 23 across 5 weekly readings. See the trend.
- Strongest against peers: free-cash-flow yield. At 10.7% (peer median 3.8%) it ranks 3rd of 44 among technology stocks this site tracks. See the ranking.
- Clears all 4 compounder lenses. It grows profit on little capital, reports real earnings, returns cash to owners and is not priced for perfection on this site's tests. See Compounders at a Fair Price.
How has Adobe's share price moved?
The interactive price chart needs JavaScript.
Is Adobe undervalued? The value diligence check
Every value-investing signal this site computes for this stock, gathered in one place: the same real numbers from the tools below, not a new score.
- Margin of safety (DCF) +45.1%
- P/E vs. its own history 13.6x · at/below its cheapest point Real range: 19.2x–66.0x over 5 years (net income per diluted share from each fiscal year's 10-K, paired with the real closing price at that fiscal year-end).
- Wall St. analyst rating Hold · 3.42/5 45 analysts this month: 7 strong buy, 10 buy, 23 hold, 5 sell, 0 strong sell (Finnhub). Down from 3.43 last month.
- Altman Z″-Score (bankruptcy risk) 7.67 · Safe zone
- Earnings quality (is the profit real?) Strong · 1 watch Beneish M-score −2.85 · accruals −9.7% of assets · 140% of profit arrived as cash · stock comp 8.2% of revenue · share count −3.6% a year. From the latest 10-K (year to Nov 2025) - see the Earnings Quality Screener for how each check is scored.
- Shareholder yield (cash back to owners) +9.4% net Latest fiscal year (2025): dividends 0.0% + buybacks 11.4% − stock comp 2.0%, as a share of today's market cap. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count fell 15%. See Shareholder Yield Leaders.
- Capital needed to grow (See's test) $0.55 per $1 of new profit · See's-like Operating profit $2.2B → $7.4B, capital needed $7.0B → $9.9B, 2016–2025 (3-year averages); return on capital now 75% before tax. Buffett's See's Candies needed $0.42 per $1 of new profit, FlightSafety $3.20, a typical grower about $5. See Capital-Light Compounders.
- PEG (growth at a reasonable price) 0.91 · About fair P/E 13.6× ÷ 15.0% a year of growth behind it. 81st lowest of 447 stocks with a usable PEG. Lynch's fair value is a PEG of 1; a very high PEG usually means almost no growth, a very low one a profit spike. See PEG Ratio Ranking.
- Compounder lenses (4) 4 of 4 Capital-light growth: cleared; Profit is real: cleared; Cash to owners: cleared; Fair price (PEG): cleared. See Compounders at a Fair Price, which also lets you move the PEG bar.
- Value trap check Clear
- Munger's Inversion Check 0 flags
- Standing vs. sector peers 5 of 6 measures above the median Compared with the 43 other technology stocks this site tracks: 4 in the top third, 1 in the bottom third.
How does Adobe compare with its peers?
5 of 6 measures sit above the median of the 43 other technology stocks tracked here, 4 in the top third and 1 in the bottom third.
- P/E ratiolower is cheaper · peer median 26.0× 13.6× ✓3rd of 39
- Free-cash-flow yieldhigher is cheaper · peer median 3.8% 10.7% ✓3rd of 44
- Return on equityhigher is better · peer median 24% 63% ✓13th of 44
- Net marginhigher is better · peer median 16.9% 28.1% ✓11th of 44
- Revenue growthhigher is better, year on year · peer median 19.1% 12.0% ✕32nd of 44
- Debt / equitylower is safer · peer median 0.60 0.54 –21st of 44
Peers are the stocks this site tracks in the same sector group, not every listed competitor. The bar runs from the weakest peer (left) to the strongest (right); the tick is the middle. Measures that don't apply to a sector (cash-flow yield for banks, debt for financials) are left out.
What would Buffett & Lynch say?
Buffett's checklist is built around durable, profitable businesses bought at sensible prices, and ADBE clears it. In its favor: ADBE is currently earning a strong return on shareholders' equity, and has kept that profitability up over five years, not just this year, converts sales into profit at healthy margins, has grown earnings per share at a solid clip over five years, earns many times its interest expense, so debt service isn't a worry, is trading below what a conservative discounted-cash-flow estimate says it's worth - his own "price is what you pay, value is what you get" test, not a fixed multiple ceiling, and trades at a reasonable multiple of owner earnings, his own term for the real cash a business could pay out. Where it comes up short: ADBE carries more debt relative to equity than he typically tolerates.
- ROE (TTM) > 11% ✓
- ROE (5yr avg) > 11% ✓
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✕
- Pretax margin > 15% ✓
- EPS growth (5yr) > 7% ✓
- Interest coverage > 5x ✓
- Trading below intrinsic value (DCF) ✓
- Price vs. owner earnings < 25x ✓
- Bonus: returning capital via buybacks FY2025
Lynch looked for growth stories that weren't overpriced for that growth, and ADBE clears his bar. In its favor: ADBE clears his signature PEG-under-1 test: growth at a reasonable price, is growing earnings at the steady 10-20% pace of a proper Stalwart, isn't over-leveraged for a company of its type, isn't asking investors to overpay for that growth, and is backing its growth up with real free cash flow.
- PEG < 1 ✓
- EPS growth 10%-20% ✓
- Debt/Equity < 0.6 ✓
- P/E < 27 ✓
- Price/FCF < 30 ✓
Quantitative approximations of each investor's documented approach, not endorsed by either investor or their estates - commentary, not this site's actual ranking criteria. Buffett never published a numeric checklist: only 2 of his 8 checks here trace to his own documented concepts ("owner earnings," from his 1986 shareholder letter, and "price is what you pay, value is what you get," his case against fixed P/E/P/B ceilings) - the other 6 (ROE, debt, margins, growth, interest coverage) use commonly-cited thresholds that are not numbers he himself published. The 8 hard filters below (plus the Munger check and Graham margin of safety) are this site's real, mechanical screen and are computed completely independently of the checklists above.
Berkshire Hathaway's own filing
Which of the 8 value filters does Adobe pass?
- Market Cap > $25B $99.3B
- Trailing P/E < 25 13.63
- PEG Ratio < 1.5 0.91
- Price/Book < 8 8.44
- Price/Sales < 7 3.82
- EPS Growth YoY > -5% +10.7%
- vs 50-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
- vs 200-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
What is Adobe's margin of safety?
+49% on 2026-10-07 → +45% on 2026-10-23 (5 weekly readings).
Where is Adobe in its 52-week range?
What is the short interest in Adobe?
17,705,400 shares short as of 2026-09-30 (FINRA settlement date). Reported twice a month, so this only changes roughly every two weeks, not daily.
What could go wrong with Adobe? Munger's inversion check
"Invert, always invert." Instead of reasons to buy, these are reasons to hesitate, not a verdict, and not everything worth knowing about a business.
- Margin of safety, even in the bull case +68%
- Short interest under 5% of float 4.6%
- Passes most of the 6 fundamental filters 5/6 passed
- Price run-up backed by value, not just momentum +39% off 52wk low
- Debt/equity stable since 2016 0.26 → 0.53
Doesn't cover circle of competence, management quality, or accounting concerns: those need judgment, not data.
How much have Adobe shareholders gained per year?
Earnings growth per share plus dividend.
An earnings-based proxy, not a stock-price total return - it doesn't capture multiple expansion/contraction or reinvested dividends. EPS from ADBE's own 10-K filings; dividend yield is the current trailing yield on today's price, from the same weekly fetch as the rest of this site.
What do Adobe's 10-year financials show?
From ADBE's own 10-K filings (SEC EDGAR): up to the last 10 fiscal years. Press any year's bars for the exact figures.
Frequently asked questions about Adobe
What kind of company is Adobe?
Adobe sells creative, document and marketing software, mostly as subscriptions. Its tools are the industry standard for editing photos, video and design, and its PDF software handles documents for businesses and consumers. Brands and businesses it owns include Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Acrobat and Adobe Express. This site groups it with Technology stocks.
Is Adobe trading above or below its DCF value?
At $270.55, ADBE trades 45.1% below this site's neutral DCF value of $492.95 per share, a margin of safety of +45.1%. That DCF projects free cash flow for 10 years, with growth starting at 8% and fading to 2.5%, discounted at 10%; it is one set of assumptions, not a forecast. Test your own in the Intrinsic Value Calculator.
How many of this site's 8 value filters does Adobe pass?
ADBE passes 5 of 8. It passes Market Cap > $25B ($99.3B), Trailing P/E < 25 (13.63), PEG Ratio < 1.5 (0.91), Price/Sales < 7 (3.82) and EPS Growth YoY > -5% (+10.7%). It misses Price/Book < 8 (8.44). vs 50-day MA (±12%) and vs 200-day MA (±12%) were not evaluated, because the moving-average checks only run on stocks that clear the fundamentals first. The 8-filter list shows every stock that passes all of them.
Are Adobe's reported earnings reliable?
This site's earnings-quality check rates ADBE Strong · 1 watch. Beneish M-score −2.85 · accruals −9.7% of assets · 140% of profit arrived as cash · stock comp 8.2% of revenue · share count −3.6% a year. From the latest 10-K (year to Nov 2025). Concerns: stock-based compensation (on watch). The five checks are the Beneish M-score (manipulation risk), accruals, cash conversion, stock-based compensation and share dilution; the Earnings Quality Screener shows how each is graded.
How fast has Adobe grown its revenue and profit?
From fiscal 2016 to fiscal 2025, ADBE's revenue grew from $5.9 billion to $23.8 billion, 16.8% a year. Net income went from $1.2 billion to $7.1 billion, and its net profit margin from 20.0% to 30.0%. Earnings per share went from $2.32 to $16.70 on today's share count, 24.5% a year. In fiscal 2025 it produced $9.9 billion of free cash flow (cash from operations minus capital spending), 41.4% of its revenue. All figures are from ADBE's own 10-K filings (SEC EDGAR) and are shown year by year in the 10-Year Financials section of the card above.
Is Adobe's P/E ratio high or low compared with its own history?
ADBE trades at 13.6× trailing earnings. At the end of each of its last 5 fiscal years its P/E was between 19.2× and 66.0× (average 42.4×), so today's multiple is at or below the lowest of those years. Each year's P/E pairs net income per diluted share from the 10-K with the closing price at that fiscal year-end.
Where do these numbers come from?
- Financial statements: Adobe's 10-K annual report for the year ended Nov 28, 2025, filed Jan 15, 2026 (filing index). Every earlier year in the 10-year financials comes from the company's older 10-K filings, all listed on SEC EDGAR.
- Prices and market data: quotes, P/E and analyst ratings from Finnhub; daily price history and the 52-week range from Twelve Data, both refreshed weekly. Short interest comes from FINRA, reported twice a month.
- How to check a figure: click any number in the card above to see its exact source, and read the Editorial Standards for every rule behind the checks.
About this Adobe Inc analysis
This page shows every value-investing check the site runs on Adobe Inc (ADBE) in one place: the 8 mechanical filters, the Buffett and Lynch checklists, a margin of safety from a disclosed DCF, earnings quality, shareholder yield and how it ranks against its sector peers. The numbers come from SEC filings and public market data, refreshed weekly, and the same rules apply to every stock on the stock list. See Editorial Standards for the sources and the rules, or run your own filters in the stock screener.