MiamiGent
1 year ago
IBM and Adobe Expand Partnership With Generative AI Focus
BY PYMNTS | JUNE 19, 2023
IBM and Adobe are expanding their partnership to help brands create content with artificial intelligence (AI).
The collaboration, announced Monday (June 19), will see IBM Consulting debut a portfolio of Adobe consulting services to help customers โnavigate the complex generative AI landscape, bringing together innovation, technology and design to digitally reinvent customer interactions,โ IBM said in a news release.
According to the release, Adobeโs enterprise clients will gain access to IBM Consulting experts, who can help them implement generative AI models for the design and creative process.
โWeโre seeing incredible momentum in AI adoption as more brands turn to generative AI to create seamless and highly personalized customer experiences to drive growth and improve productivity,โ said Matt Candy, global managing partner, IBM iX Customer & Experience Transformation, IBM Consulting.
โBy expanding our strategic partnership with Adobe, we can help marketers more effectively design AI-powered experiences while establishing appropriate guardrails, so the AI is built on trust and transparency principles to promote brand consistency and integrity.โ
The announcement comes as more and more companies add generative AI functions into their offerings, such as last weekโs debut of Meta Platformsโ generative AI model that performs speech-generation tasks such as audio editing, sampling and styling.
As PYMNTS noted recently, generative AI is bringing brandsโ customer service to its next horizon, with technology that can detect emotion, offer advice and complete entire transactions.
Already, more than 60% of consumers say that voice assistants will become as smart and reliable as human assistants, while 41% project that will happen within five years, according to the PYMNTS report โHow Consumers Want to Live In the Voice Economy.โ
Last month saw reports that IBM was freezing or slowing hiring for roughly 26,000 back-office roles, positions that could be handled by AI.
โI could easily see 30% of that getting replaced by AI and automation over a five-year period,โ CEO Arvind Krishna said at the time, though he later clarified this doesnโt necessarily mean the companyโs total employment would decrease.
โThat gives the ability to plow a lot more investment into value-creating activities,โ said Krishna. โWe hired more people than were let go because weโre hiring into areas where there is a lot more demand from our clients.โ
crudeoil24
1 year ago
Adobe earnings help justify AI-fueled surge, but will the stock now 'take a breather'?
7:56 am ET June 16, 2023 (MarketWatch)
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By Emily Bary
Analysts cheer AI opportunities but remain divided on upside potential after a sizable recent run up
Adobe Inc. shares had seen a 42% monthly rally in the lead up to its earnings as Wall Street deemed the company an attractive artificial-intelligence play, and the software giant's latest report helped validate that surge.
The company hiked its expectations for fiscal 2023, including on the closely watched metric of annual recurring revenue. This boost signaled "confidence not only within the quarter but also for the upcoming quarters," according to Bernstein analyst Mark Moerdler.
Amid a mixed stretch for software earnings, Adobe's (ADBE)results and commentary stood out, Moerdler commented. "We like the fact that the company raised their FY23 targets in the face of difficult macro environment, an important sign of the strength in the business."
He wrote that he expects Adobe to monetize AI "in numerous ways" and thinks the company will be able to drive margin improvement even while making further aggressive investments in the technology.
"Adobe (like Microsoft) is a company that has invested thoughtfully over many years in AI and is well-positioned in the space now," Moerdler wrote, as he lifted his price target on the shares to $585 from $431 and reiterated an outperform rating.
Shares of Adobe were ahead more than 4% in Friday's premarket action.
Derrick Wood of TD Cowen highlighted that the tone on Adobe has shifted in a big way lately.
"In a matter of weeks, investor sentiment has shifted from GenAI being a headwind to compelling tailwind for ADBE, and 2Q results/guide reinforce the latter stance," he wrote. He thinks generative AI can drive a significant boost to Adobe's total addressable market and that the company is "well-positioned to capitalize on this opportunity, with a meaningful build in growth levers starting next year."
He rated the stock at outperform while upping his price target to $575 from $500 after earnings.
See also: Adobe enters AI fray with Firefly
Analysts chimed in with various views on whether Adobe shares will be able to sustain their recent momentum.
"With the stock up 40% over the past month, we would not be surprised to see the shares take a breather at current levels," wrote Evercore ISI's Kirk Materne, who rated the stock at outperform and boosted his price target to $590 from $475 late Thursday. "However, when zooming out and taking a 6-12 month view, we continue to believe Adobe is incredibly well positioned to monetize Gen AI [generative AI] across both its consumer and enterprise customer base and this should keep a positive bias on our/Street estimates" heading into 2024.
Don't miss: Oracle is riding the AI wave, but growth concerns remain, says analyst
Sterling Auty of SVB MoffettNathanson wrote that he and his team "have to give credit where credit is due," though they stayed on the sidelines on Adobe shares and noted that revenue impacts from AI won't really hit until the fourth quarter of 2023.
"There are still questions about competitive threats from Midjourney (Private), Dalle (OpenAI), and others," Auty wrote. "But Adobe has done a very good job rolling out a lot of functionality in a short period of time and initial reactions have been positive. Our expectation is that this will be incremental to growth, but the question is how much."
He brought his price target up to $540 from $360 in his most recent report, while keeping a market perform rating.
Read: AI is ready to take on menial tasks in the workplace, but don't sweat robot replacement (just yet)
Gregg Moskowitz of Mizuho had a similarly balanced view.
Adobe's "fundamentals appear to be on firmer ground, and GenAI offers legitimate upside potential over the medium-term and beyond," he wrote. "That said, the multiple is no longer inexpensive, and much uncertainty remains with respect to Figma," a pending acquisition that has sparked regulatory pushback.
Moskowitz had a neutral rating on the stock, though he raised his price target to $520 from $450 Friday.
More from MarketWatch: Yes, AI is coming for your job. Here's how to prepare
-Emily Bary
This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 16, 2023 07:56 ET (11:56 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
MiamiGent
1 year ago
ADBE Out of AH short @ 505.10 for +9.75/SH
So, recapping
Last Thurs to Fri ADBE trade +27.40/SH
Fri to Mon ADBE trade +10.65/SH
Wed to Thurs ADBE trade +8.30/SH
Thurs to Thurs AH ADBE trade +9.75
Total gain Thurs last week to Thurs this week = 56.05/SH
NOW, if I had just left the initial buy @ 432.60 alone to tonight's regular session close, the gain would have been 59.30/SH!!!
But, but I did an interim CAT trade while I was out of ADBE yielding 2.40 a share and that was worth about double on an ADBE basis due to dif SPs.
And the CAT trade was strictly a bookmark, a placeholder while waiting to re-enter ADBE, my primary play.
If you add 4.80 into the total, that brings my week long win to 60.85, just barely eeking out the 59.30 if I had just stayed in ADBE from the first buy. Sheesh, $1.55 a share for all that fancy foot stepping, lol.
I won't trouble you with my trade machinations for a while, I promise! LOL