Updated:

Adobe Systems Inc. broke another record for quarterly revenue as it posted third-quarter financial results that once again beat Wall Street’s forecasts.

The company, which makes creative design software products such as Photoshop, reported a profit of $666 million, or $1.34 per share. Earnings before certain costs such as stock compensation came in at $1.73 per share on revenue of $2.29 billion, which was up 24 percent from the same period a year ago.

The results easily beat analysts’ forecast of earnings of $1.69 per share on revenue of $2.25 billion.

Adobe said revenue from its Digital Media unit, which includes its Creative Cloud software offerings, came to $1.61 billion, while its annualized recurring revenue was $6.4 billion. Looking more closely, Creative Cloud revenue came to $1.36 billion, while Document Cloud pulled in $249 million. Adobe’s other main creative software business, its Digital Experience unit, pulled in $614 million.

“As we look to Q4, we are excited about the opportunities ahead,” Adobe Chief Executive Shantanu Narayen said in a statement. “We expect a strong close to Adobe’s 2018 fiscal year and are confident that we have the right strategy, products, people, customers and partners to sustain our growth and momentum.”

Adobe has demonstrated solid growth in recent quarters, and it’s often held up as a prime example of how technology companies can transition successfully from a software license-based business model to one that’s subscription-based.

Narayen has refused to let up, however. He has pushed for greater growth with a two-pronged strategy that involves boosting its suite of marketing and ecommerce offerings to take on rival Salesforce.com Inc., and doubling down on its core creative software.

“Adobe is one of the few companies that can deliver from creative to commerce, which is not an easy feat among a marketing tech landscape of 8,000 vendors,” said Ray Wang, founder and principal analyst at Constellation Research Inc. “Customers are looking for some consolidation in the market and Adobe’s benefiting from a full stack portfolio.”

The digital media business continues to grow at a faster clip, but growth is not as fast as it was, which might concern investors going forward.

That may explain why Adobe is reportedly interested in buying a company called Marketo Inc., which provides account-based marketing platform for managing promotional campaigns that target businesses. Reuters reported Thursday that Adobe is in talks with Marketo to buy the company and will pay “significantly more” than the $1.8 billion that Vista Equity Partners Management paid to take Marketo private back in 2016.

If that deal does happen, it would presumably help Adobe to boost its marketing business products. Whether the deal gets done or not, Adobe is optimistic about its fortunes for the coming quarter. The company provided guidance that topped analysts’ estimates and signals continued demand for its creative products.

For the fourth quarter, Adobe said it’s looking at earnings of $1.87 per share on revenue of $2.42 billion, nearly even with Wall Street’s expected $1.86 per share on revenue of $2.42 billion.

Despite the strong quarter, positive guidance and acquisition rumors, Adobe’s stock barely moved in after-hours trading. That would suggest investors are taking a “wait and see” approach on how the company will perform going forward. Update: Shares rose 2.3 percent Friday.

Image: Marco Verch/Flickr