Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) ended Monday’s session lower and stayed under pressure after the closing bell, as investors weighed a fresh wave of analyst caution against Adobe’s still-optimistic 2026 outlook.
By the end of regular trading on December 15, 2025, Adobe shares closed at $351.15. In after-hours trading, the stock dipped to about $349.20 (down $1.95, or 0.56%) as of 6:52 p.m. ET, according to Google Finance. [1]
The setup for Tuesday’s open is clear: the market is no longer debating whether Adobe is “doing AI,” but whether it can translate widespread AI adoption into durable incremental revenue and defend its moat as new AI-native creative and marketing tools multiply.
Adobe stock: what happened in the regular session and after the bell
Adobe fell 1.48% Monday, closing at $351.15 and snapping a brief two-day winning streak. Trading volume was elevated at roughly 5.4 million shares, above its 50-day average near 3.9 million, signaling heavy institutional participation in the move. [2]
Price action was volatile intraday: Google Finance shows a day range of $343.88 to $355.00, with a 52-week range of $311.58 to $473.62. [3]
After the bell, the early read-through remained cautious, with shares drifting down in extended hours to ~$349.20. [4]
Just as important for Tuesday: the broader tape wasn’t offering much help. Major indices finished modestly lower, with the Nasdaq down 0.59%, while volatility (VIX) ticked up. [5]
The big driver today: KeyBanc turns bearish on Adobe into 2026
The dominant Adobe-specific headline Monday was KeyBanc’s downgrade to Underweight (from Sector Weight) and a sharply lower $310 price target—a call that quickly became the central narrative around ADBE’s near-term risk/reward. [6]
Across multiple write-ups of the call, the core argument is consistent:
- Competition is intensifying “from all sides”—traditional rivals, AI-native startups, and large language model (LLM) ecosystem players. [7]
- Adobe’s outlook may leave limited room for upside surprises in 2026, particularly if pricing and product differentiation get pressured at the “lower end” of the user base where free/low-cost AI tools are proliferating. [8]
- KeyBanc’s note (as summarized in the coverage) also points to a growth/margin trade-off, with expectations for flatter net-new recurring revenue dynamics and some margin pressure, even after a solid quarterly beat. [9]
One especially market-relevant detail from Benzinga’s summary: KeyBanc cited survey signals showing front-office segments such as digital marketing losing priority, and noted a 16-point net decrease in sales and marketing budgets among respondents—exactly the kind of demand-side datapoint that can weigh on a company with a meaningful marketing and experience cloud footprint. [10]
BMO trims Adobe’s target too — but keeps an Outperform rating
Not all of Monday’s analyst chatter was outright bearish.
BMO Capital reduced its Adobe price target to $400 from $405 while reiterating an Outperform rating, pointing to better-than-expected execution in metrics like ARR and revenue—yet still acknowledging that competitive challenges (including AI applications) remain a real constraint on the multiple. [11]
BMO’s stance matters for Tuesday because it highlights the market’s current split:
- The bull case is increasingly about Adobe’s ability to monetize AI at scale (not just ship features), preserve premium positioning, and keep ARR growth healthy.
- The bear case is increasingly about AI-driven commoditization and faster product cycles from smaller competitors putting pressure on pricing power and growth expectations.
That push-pull is likely to keep ADBE headline-sensitive in the near term—especially in premarket.
Why this stings: Adobe just posted record results and guided higher for 2026
Monday’s down move can look counterintuitive if you only focus on Adobe’s latest earnings.
In its Q4 and FY2025 results, Adobe reported:
- Record Q4 revenue of $6.19 billion, and non-GAAP EPS of $5.50 [12]
- FY2025 revenue of $23.77 billion (11% year-over-year growth, per the press release), plus ~$10.03 billion in operating cash flow for the year [13]
- A sizable capital return story, including ~30.8 million shares repurchased during FY2025 (and ~7.2 million in the quarter). [14]
And Adobe’s FY2026 targets (as laid out in the investor materials) include:
- Total revenue: $25.90B to $26.10B
- Non-GAAP EPS: $23.30 to $23.50 (GAAP EPS: $17.90 to $18.10)
- Total Adobe ending ARR growth: 10.2% year over year [15]
Reuters also reported that Adobe projected FY2026 revenue and adjusted EPS above Wall Street expectations (per LSEG-compiled estimates at the time) and highlighted that Adobe’s freemium monthly active users increased 35% year over year to over 70 million, an adoption signal the company ties to its AI and funnel strategy. [16]
So why is the stock still struggling?
Because today’s debate is not “Did Adobe beat?”—it’s “Is the business model getting structurally disrupted faster than Adobe can monetize and defend its premium tiers?” That question is exactly what the KeyBanc downgrade re-centered on Monday. [17]
AI is both the catalyst and the threat — and Adobe is leaning into it hard
Adobe’s messaging is increasingly explicit: AI is becoming foundational across Creative Cloud, Document Cloud, and Experience Cloud.
Reuters noted Adobe’s deep bet on Firefly (integrated across Creative Cloud for image/video generation) and pointed to Adobe’s effort to push further into marketing via its planned $1.9 billion acquisition of Semrush to help marketers understand brand visibility across searches and GenAI bots (including tools like ChatGPT and Gemini). [18]
That strategy matters for Tuesday because it frames two near-term watch items:
- Does AI expand Adobe’s total addressable market and monetization (bull case)?
- Or does AI make parts of creative and marketing workflows cheaper and more substitutable (bear case)?
Today’s analyst notes largely pushed the market toward (2), at least for now. [19]
Today’s forecasts: where Wall Street sits heading into Tuesday
Even after the downgrade noise, the Street is still broadly constructive on Adobe—just less patient about the timeline.
TipRanks’ aggregated view shows:
- “Strong Buy” consensus based on 21 analyst ratings over the past three months (18 Buy, 3 Hold, 0 Sell)
- Average 12-month price target: $463.20, with a $585 high and $366 low [20]
That wide spread is important: it reflects high disagreement about how much AI disruption risk should be “penalized” in the multiple.
Meanwhile, Monday’s most market-moving targets were at the low end:
Investing.com’s roundup also referenced a range of other targets still well above Monday’s close (e.g., Bernstein at $506, DA Davidson at $500, Piper Sandler at $470), underscoring that today’s selloff is more about narrative risk than a broad collapse in analyst confidence. [23]
What to watch before the market opens Tuesday (Dec. 16)
Here are the most actionable, non-hype signals to track between now and the opening bell:
1) Premarket reaction to the KeyBanc downgrade
KeyBanc’s Underweight call is likely to stay in circulation on desks overnight and into premarket, especially because it’s positioned as a “2026 outlook” reset for enterprise software. [24]
If other firms publish follow-on notes (either agreeing or pushing back), that could move ADBE quickly—particularly because sentiment is already fragile.
2) Whether after-hours weakness holds — or fades
After-hours trading showed a modest dip (to ~$349.20 as of 6:52 p.m. ET). [25]
Extended-hours moves can reverse easily on thin liquidity, but they often set the emotional tone for the next day—especially following a downgrade-driven selloff.
3) Key price levels traders will likely anchor to
With Monday’s intraday low at $343.88 and a session ceiling near $355, those two levels are the first “battle lines” for Tuesday. [26]
A clean break below Monday’s low can pull attention back toward the $311–$315 zone (the 52-week low area). [27]
Conversely, reclaiming the mid-$350s would suggest the downgrade impact is being absorbed.
4) The “AI monetization” proof points (not just new features)
The market is increasingly focused on measurable adoption and conversion signals—like the 70M+ freemium MAUs Adobe cited, and whether those users become paid tiers for Creative Cloud Pro, Firefly, Acrobat AI, and workflow automation. [28]
Expect investors to scrutinize any commentary that implies pricing power or attach rates, because that’s where the AI narrative becomes earnings.
5) Semrush deal headlines and regulatory/process risk
Reuters reported Adobe’s plan to acquire Semrush for $1.9B, with the strategic angle tied to search visibility across classic search and GenAI bots. [29]
If deal-related updates emerge (timeline, approvals, integration detail), they can provide either reassurance (strategic clarity) or new uncertainty (execution risk).
6) Upcoming calendar: next major Adobe catalyst is earnings in March
Adobe’s next scheduled major event is the Q1 FY2026 earnings call on March 12, 2026. [30]
Until then, the stock may trade more on analyst revisions, competitive headlines, and macro/tech sentiment than on fresh company-reported numbers.
Bottom line for Tuesday: ADBE is trading the “AI moat” question, not the quarter
Adobe’s fundamentals and guidance remain solid on paper—record FY2025 revenue, significant cash generation, aggressive buybacks, and a FY2026 revenue and EPS outlook that Reuters said came in above expectations. [31]
But Monday’s action—and the slight after-hours dip—signal the market is still wrestling with the same question that has capped Adobe’s multiple for much of this AI cycle:
Can Adobe keep its creative and marketing platforms premium and indispensable as generative AI lowers barriers and accelerates competition?
Tuesday’s open will be a real-time referendum on whether investors view Monday’s downgrade as a one-day headline hit—or the start of a broader 2026 de-rating narrative. [32]
References
1. www.google.com, 2. www.marketwatch.com, 3. www.google.com, 4. www.google.com, 5. www.google.com, 6. www.investing.com, 7. www.tipranks.com, 8. www.investing.com, 9. www.investing.com, 10. www.benzinga.com, 11. www.investing.com, 12. www.adobe.com, 13. www.adobe.com, 14. www.adobe.com, 15. www.adobe.com, 16. www.reuters.com, 17. www.tipranks.com, 18. www.reuters.com, 19. www.benzinga.com, 20. www.tipranks.com, 21. www.tipranks.com, 22. www.investing.com, 23. www.investing.com, 24. www.tipranks.com, 25. www.google.com, 26. www.google.com, 27. www.google.com, 28. www.reuters.com, 29. www.reuters.com, 30. www.adobe.com, 31. www.adobe.com, 32. www.investing.com
