Adobe Is the Leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant, Again

So far in this series, we’ve looked at Adobe Systems’ (ADBE) recently announced fiscal 2Q16 results. On June 20, 2016, Adobe announced it had been recognized by Gartner as a leader in the 2016 Magic Quadrant for Mobile App Development Platforms research report. This year marks the fourth consecutive year the company has been recognized as a leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant.

Although Adobe made it as a leader in the Magic Quadrant, it’s still behind IBM (IBM) and Salesforce.com (CRM) on the execution index. Microsoft (MSFT) is also ahead of Adobe on the vision index. Microsoft strengthened its position in this space with Xamarin, a mobile app (application) development platform provider acquisition.

Through Creative Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and Document Cloud, Adobe primarily generates its cloud revenues. Among these three, Creative Cloud is the biggest and includes software for creative professionals such as Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign.

In its 2Q16 earnings release, Adobe announced the introduction of new features in Creative Cloud. They include the following:

• content-aware crop in Photoshop, a Creative Cloud offering
• performance enhancements in CreativeSync – CreativeSync enables Adobe to bind various mobile apps into a comprehensive cross-design suite.
• Adobe Stock now encompasses a collection of stock content and extensive integration within the Creative Cloud desktop and mobile applications.

Earlier in the series, we looked at Adobe’s recent acquisition of LiveFyre. It’s expected to not only boost the company’s position in Marketing Cloud but also in the mobile app development space.

Adobe accounts for 0.24% of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY). SPY has 7% exposure to the application software sector.