Adobe Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

On a strictly technical basis, my magic charts say this will outperform the S&P

Target of $72 by Dec 2008.
Expected increase of 20 to 72%

A tad pricy, but has never really failed to outperform. And inductive reasoning says that since it's never failed it's a safe assuption that the trend will continue and it never will!

That and it's consistently produced superior products in everything it tries, it's a staple format for documents and it has no debt. I'll take it.

Double digit earnings should make this a great pick for the next 12 months.

The day Adobe bought Macromedia, I remember conversing with a web developer friend of mine and saying, "Adobe just bought exclusive rights to the Internet." They make many products that are key to developing good presentation on the Internet. All of those products are considered the standard in each of their categories.

Microsoft has twice tried to come up with technologies to compete with Flash. I can name them, but I'm an applications developer - can you?

Adobe's "PDF" format is so ubiquitous that the reader software is often installed standard on PCs.

Photoshop - the premiere image editing software - has a brand so popular, it has become a verb.

With a lineup like this, how can you go wrong?

You really can't do anything on the internet without encountering Adobe technology. The copy protection for CS3 seems stronger than for previous suites.

Very solid technology. Strong business model.

a

Everyday use on almost every PC

Whether you like it or not, Adobe has got a monopoly on the design market. Despite its recent mistakes of the printing scenario, it will continue to build and has a solid level of clients behind it.

About to breakout big to the upside. Great product pipeline and fundamentals are sound.

This company makes a great product, the numbers are spotless. Great revenue growth, cash flow. No Debt. What the heck is not to like????

Adobe's number one market product is its PDF reader and writer. What office or business that you know doesn't have it?
Most people usally want their update as time moves along.

I think Adobe is well positioned to remain a key contributor to both the on-line and publishing worlds, with Flash acceptance and its creative suite. The company's new rich internet experience platform (AIR), IMHO, is going to revolutionize the web, something MSFT has been trying unsuccessfully to do for years.

I know how important it is for those of us who are on the computer a lot, and not just for work as I am retired.

OK, I know this is a narrowly focused reason, but... I've given up using Adobe SW products because of their extremely bloated & despotic condition. I gave up on Adobe Reader a long time ago & these days go to great lengths to uninstall it from all my computers (thank goodness for FoxIt, a free [and MUCH better] PDF reader!). Recently, I tried the latest Dreamweaver -- and found it so horrible (it forcibly installed a networking program that broke my net connection so badly I had to reinstall original drivers!) that I immediately uninstalled it & refuse to ever use Adobe products again. So... all I can say is anything Adobe gets its clumsy hands on instantly turns to crud. Can their stock be far behind?

not a player

Excellent and established products. It's hard to go wrong when your flagship product's name is commonly used as a verb! "I "photoshopped" that image..."

This company has filled the needs of its niche for many years. Great following of loyal customers. Macromedia was Adobe's only obstacle to secure the top spot - now Macromedia is Adobe - end of story.