Adobe Systems CEO Shantanu Narayen speaks during a Diwali celebration in the Oval Office, October 21, 2025 (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Getty Images)

Adobe sinks as CEO departs after 18 years at the helm, overshadowing solid Q1 results

ARR exited the quarter up 10.9% from this time last year, a slight slowdown that might compound AI concerns.

Claire Yubin Oh

Adobe is down 9% in premarket trading on Friday after the company announced that longtime CEO Shantanu Narayen will be stepping down after 18 years at the helm of the design giant.

The company reported an otherwise solid set of results for its fiscal first quarter, though its slowing growth on annual recurring revenue may compound concerns on Wall Street that AI will be a long-term headwind to growth.

Per Adobe’s press release, Narayen will leave the top job after a successor has been appointed, and will remain as chair of the board. Under his leadership, Adobe successfully transitioned from a legacy software player selling one-time licenses to a subscription giant, which its stock jumping more than sixfold, beating the S&P 500’s 350% rise over the same period.

Despite continued concerns about the impact of AI disruption on software stocks like Adobe, the company reported a solid set of results for the quarter ended February 27, 2026, with:

A record revenue of $6.4 billion, topping Wall Street’s consensus estimate of $6.28 billion (compiled by Bloomberg).
Adjusted earnings per share of $6.06, vs. analyst forecasts for $5.88.

In Q2, Adobe expects:

Total revenue in the range of $6.43 billion to $6.48 billion, vs. analyst expectations of $6.45 billion.
Adjusted EPS between $5.80 and $5.85, beating Wall Street estimates of $5.77.

Adobe’s annualized recurring revenue exited the quarter at a run rate of $26.06 billion, a 10.9% year-over-year uptick. That’s a slowdown from the 13.5% growth in the previous quarter. Before the earnings release, RBC Capital Markets analyst Matthew Swanson wrote in a note to clients, “We continue to believe that ARR re-acceleration remains the focus for investors to get more constructive.”

Matt Phillips4h

Memory stocks rebound off last weeks losses

Memory stocks Micron, Sandisk, Western Digital, and Seagate Technology Holdings rose again Friday, putting these crucial providers of chips for AI inference work on track for big weekly gains after last week’s steep losses following the outbreak of war with Iran.

There’s no obvious trigger for the move higher for these shares this week, other than a bit of a recovery in the AI trade more broadly — AI beneficiaries like IT cable and connections maker Amphenol and custom chip and networking company Marvell Technology clawed back some gains this week — perhaps due Oracle’s earnings earlier, and some mean reversion to boot.

Micron is due to report earnings after the close of trading on Wednesday, with the company catching a couple price target hikes this week, including one from Wedbush on Friday.

Sandisk is something of a different story, as its enormous gains over the last 12 months — roughly 1,200% — have made it a momentum play beloved by the retail crowd.

It was up about 20% this week at around 11 a.m. ET. And its nearly 170% gain this year keeps the stock on top of the S&P 500, in terms of price performance.

Luke Kawa

The S&P 500’s internals are awful... while it’s still less than 5% from its record closing high

The breadth of negative momentum within the index’s constituents is even worse than at the tariff-induced market bottom in April 2025.

Luke Kawa

These two charts show how the Iran war is causing markets to price in a longer oil supply crunch

The rise of third-month Brent futures relative to front-month this week is unprecedented since at least 1989.

Matt Phillips6h

Bitcoin bounce lifts crypto stocks

Crypto stocks rose in early Friday trading, riding a rebound in the price of bitcoin to more than $73,000.

Coinbase, Strategy, Circle, and MARA Holdings were among the biggest gainers of that cadre. Their end-of-the-week bounce might be getting a bit of extra oomph from the fact that companies have picked up a fair bit of interest from short sellers in 2026, as bitcoin fell about 15%.

Some of those shorts might be looking to quickly close out positions — which requires buying the stock — ahead of what could be another unpredictable weekend of war.

Max Knoblauch6h

Carvana announces plans for a 5-for-1 stock split, the company’s first

Online car retailer Carvana said on Friday that its board has approved a 5-for-1 stock split, a first for the company.

Carvana shares climbed more than 2% in premarket trading on Friday.

Per the company’s announcement, the move is “designed to ensure that earning and buying whole shares of Carvana stock is within reach for all of its team members.”

Pending stockholder approval, the split will occur after the market closes on May 6.

Carvana stock is down 31% this year following steep drops after its Q4 earnings results last month and a short seller report earlier in the year. Carvana told Sherwood News that the report was “inaccurate and intentionally misleading.”

Carvana Board of Directors Approves 5 for 1 Forward Stock Split