Software stocks—1 buy & 1 hold

Article Excerpt

These two leading software makers continue to aggressively expand their cloud computing operations. While each is enhancing its long-term prospects, we feel Symantec is the better choice right now. ADOBE SYSTEMS INC. $98 (Nasdaq symbol ADBE; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 499.0 million; Market cap: $48.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 9.2; No dividends paid since June 2005; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.adobe.com) continues to benefit from rising demand for its online subscription services, particularly the Creative Cloud package of photoediting and desktop-publishing programs. In its fiscal 2016 second quarter, which ended June 3, 2016, the company earned $0.71 a share. That was up 47.9% from $0.48 a year earlier. Revenue jumped 20.4%, to a record $1.40 billion from $1.16 billion. In the latest quarter, revenue from Adobe’s Creative Cloud service jumped 37.0% from a year earlier. It is also seeing strong demand for its newer cloud-based offerings, including Document Cloud. That lets users create, manage and sign online…