New York, Jan 11, 2026, 05:32 EST — Market closed.
Adobe shares ended Friday lower after a BMO Capital Markets downgrade, setting a cautious tone heading into the new week. The stock closed down about 1.5% at $333.95, after trading as low as $328.00.
The downgrade matters now because Adobe is trying to prove it can turn its newer artificial-intelligence features into steady sales without losing price power. That argument has turned sharper as cheaper design tools spread among smaller customers, where Adobe has long relied on habit and workflow lock-in.
It also stood out because the broader tape was friendly. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq logged record closes on Friday after a softer U.S. jobs report did little to shake expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts this year. 1
BMO cut Adobe to “Market Perform,” a hold-style rating, from “Outperform,” and trimmed its price target — the firm’s estimate of where a stock could trade over the next year — to $375 from $400. Analyst Keith Bachman wrote that Adobe’s valuation looked “undemanding,” but he did not “envision positive catalysts” and expected the shares to stay “range-bound,” pointing to signs of intensifying competition in a recent Creative Cloud survey. 2
Competition has become a bigger part of the Adobe story as newcomers pull in students, freelancers and small businesses with simpler, cheaper tools. BMO flagged that pressure, with rivals such as Canva also pushing harder, while Alphabet has broadened its own AI-driven creation and editing offerings. 3
Adobe, for its part, has leaned into distribution partnerships rather than trying to build a walled garden. In December, it integrated Photoshop, Adobe Express and Acrobat features into ChatGPT so users could trigger Adobe tools inside the chatbot. 4
The company has argued the AI push is already lifting usage and, eventually, revenue. Adobe forecast fiscal 2026 revenue of $25.90 billion to $26.10 billion in December, and CFO Dan Durn told Reuters it was seeing “significant strength” in Creative Cloud Pro, Photoshop and Lightroom as it embeds generative AI in core products. 5
Nearer term, investors are also watching for Adobe’s annual report. In its December earnings materials, the company said it expected to file its fiscal-year 2025 Form 10-K in January. 6
But there is a risk on both sides. If the survey-driven view on competition spreads across the sell side, the stock can stay stuck even with solid results. On the other hand, a clearer signal that AI features drive paid upgrades — not just clicks — could force a rethink in targets and positioning.
The next hard catalyst is Adobe’s first-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings call, scheduled for March 12 at 2:00 p.m. Pacific time. Investors will be listening for comments on AI pricing, user conversion from free to paid tiers, and whether competitive churn shows up in the numbers. 7
