By Angela Palumbo and Adam Clark
For Wall Street investors panicking that artificial intelligence will make software obsolete, Adobe's latest executive shake-up may tell them all they need to know.
Adobe announced Thursday night that Chief Financial Officer Dan Durn will leave June 15 -- to take on the same role at chips-and-networking company Marvell Technology.
Adobe has fallen 42% this year. Marvell is riding an AI-fueled boom, up 238%. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently speculated it could be the next trillion-dollar company.
And earlier this year, Adobe announced CEO Shantanu Narayen would depart after serving as Adobe's chief executive for more than 18 years.
It is possible executive changes are what shareholders need to get excited about the stock again. The Photoshop parent is trying to alleviate fears around AI disruption by launching its own AI products, including an agent platform called CX Enterprise, which is designed to help companies boost sales, improve customer experience, and quicken time-intensive tasks.
It's clear Wall Street wants more.
Investors also want to see proof that Adobe can monetize its AI products despite growing competition. But Adobe's latest no-paywall plan to attract new customers clearly spooked the market.
"The decision to 'step on the gas' of the user acquisition engine through the freemium motion makes sense as AI proliferates the creative space, but comes at the expense of near-term ARR [annual recurring revenue] upside and visibility," wrote Stifel analyst J. Parker Lane in a research note.
Lane lowered his stock rating to Hold from Buy and his price target to $200 from $350.
UBS analyst Karl Keirstead cut his price target on Adobe to $225 from $260 and maintained a Neutral rating on the stock. He wrote in a note that competing creative AI technology "has impaired Adobe's pricing power in the down-market/individual segment, a major dent to the narrative."
Adobe stock had fallen 7.4% to $202.52 on Friday and was on pace for its lowest close since Feb. 14, 2018, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
It wasn't all bad news. Adobe reported adjusted earnings of $5.96 a share on revenue of $6.62 billion. That beat analyst estimates of earnings of $5.82 a share on revenue of $6.45 billion.
"Adobe delivered record revenue of $6.62 billion in Q2 reflecting strong AI-driven demand across our customer groups," Narayen said.
On top of beating second-quarter targets, Adobe raised its fiscal 2026 outlook. The company now expects earnings from $24.35 to $24.45 a share on revenue of $26.5 billion to $26.6 billion. Both ranges beat Wall Street's fiscal 2026 estimates -- $23.54 and $26.1 billion.
Shares are now trading at 7.8 times earnings expected over the next 12 months, which is cheap and provides an entry opportunity for someone betting a new executive team could turn the AI narrative around. That, of course, won't be an easy task.
Write to Angela Palumbo at angela.palumbo@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
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June 12, 2026 14:16 ET (18:16 GMT)
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