RingCentral and CLEAR Secure Fall After Fed Dot Plot Signals End to Easing Cycle

Goldman Sachs maintained its sell rating on Adobe as Anil Chakravarthy prepares to take over as president and CEO on Dec. 1, saying competition is intensifying and new entrants are gaining ground in areas that could expand Adobe's market. The broker said it wants clearer evidence of Adobe's strategy and execution before changing its view, and sees the leadership change as a potential catalyst even as the market remains concerned that artificial intelligence could weigh on Adobe's growth. Chakravarthy's appointment follows a transition announced in March; he previously led Adobe's Customer Experience Orchestration business and worldwide field operations, while David Wadhwani, who headed the Creativity & Productivity business, is also leaving to start a new venture and Adobe is appointing a permanent chief financial officer. Goldman said a successful turnaround will depend on Adobe simplifying its product architecture, speeding up innovation through internal investment and targeted acquisitions, and converting adoption of new features into revenue, with the key question being whether the new management makes significant strategic changes or largely extends the existing three- to five-year plan. Among the five areas Goldman flagged, monthly active users across Acrobat, Creative Cloud, Express and Firefly exceeded 1 billion in the third quarter, up more than 20% from a year earlier, while Express trails Canva, which has more than 265 million monthly users and at least $4 billion in annual recurring revenue, with Goldman estimating Express had about 70 million monthly users in 2025.

Progress Software reported third-quarter results on September 30, 2026, showing revenue down 2% to $246 million while non-GAAP earnings per share rose 13% to $1.69, as expenses fell about 6% and operating margin expanded to 43% from 40% a year earlier. Adjusted free cash flow grew 17% to $87 million, with days sales outstanding dropping to 42 from 73 at the end of fiscal 2025, funding $170 million of debt paydown this year and $17 million of buybacks in the quarter. The company closed the largest acquisition in its history, paying $400 million for Domo, or 1.4 times revenue and 3.5 times pro forma EBITDA, and management expects Domo to add well over $100 million in annual EBITDA once integration finishes by the end of fiscal 2027. Progress drew $390 million on its revolver, leaving total debt near $1.24 billion and net leverage around 2.7 times, and management warned Domo will run slightly below a 30% operating margin while synergies ramp, pulling overall margin to 36% to 37% from its usual 38% to 39% with roughly $21 million of added interest expense. Annual recurring revenue rose only about 1% on a pro forma basis with net retention at 99%, hedge fund holders fell to 23 from 29 in the prior quarter, and short sellers hold 16.69% of the float against a forward P/E of 6.47 as of October 2.

S&P Dow Jones Indices announced that Workiva will join the S&P SmallCap 600, replacing Formfactor Inc. in the index prior to the opening of trading on Tuesday, October 6, as part of a series of component shifts across multiple benchmarks. Shares of the cloud reporting platform jumped 3.3% in the morning session on the news, then cooled to $71.74, up 3% from the previous close. Index additions frequently generate positive market sentiment because investment funds that track the benchmark must adjust their portfolios to include the newly designated member. Workiva's shares are very volatile and have had 23 moves greater than 5% over the last year, and the stock is down 13.5% since the beginning of the year. At $71.74 per share, it trades 23.1% below its 52-week high of $93.31 from November 2025.

Workday announced on Thursday that it has launched in the United Arab Emirates. Angelique De Vries-Schipperijn, President, EMEA, Workday, said in a statement that the UAE is a key market in Workday's growth strategy, with organizations pursuing transformation against some of the world's most ambitious national agendas, and that they need technology that helps them move faster, adopt new ways of working, and show clear results while maintaining the trust and control large, regulated organizations require. Workday shares slipped more than 3% in midday trading, in-line with a broader market sell-off.

Progress Software reported quarterly earnings of $1.69 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.49 per share and marking a positive earnings surprise of 13.42%. The figure compares to earnings of $1.5 per share a year ago, adjusted for non-recurring items, and the company has now surpassed consensus EPS estimates in each of the last four quarters. Revenue for the quarter ended August 2026 came in at $246.01 million, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.47% and down from year-ago revenues of $249.79 million, with the company having topped consensus revenue estimates two times over the last four quarters. Ahead of the release, the estimate revisions trend was mixed, translating into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), and the current consensus stands at $1.41 per share on $251.36 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $6.16 per share on $994.66 million in revenues for the current fiscal year. Progress Software shares have lost about 8.2% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 12.1%, while industry peer Pegasystems has yet to report results for the quarter ended September 2026, with expectations of $0.45 per share in earnings and $442.6 million in revenues.