ADBE vs BLKB vs CRM Stock Comparison

Adobe, Blackbaud and Salesforce Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
ADBE Adobe Inc.
$258.62 +9.8% 1M -26.8% 1Y
Market cap
$98.08B
P/E
13.5x
Revenue (TTM)
$25.97B
Div. yield
–
Creative Software Technology
7 wins
BLKB Blackbaud Inc
$55.07 +27.5% 1M -15.5% 1Y
Market cap
$2.40B
P/E
15.9x
Revenue (TTM)
$1.15B
Div. yield
–
CRM and Sales Software Technology
1 win
CRM Salesforce, Inc.
$247.58 +5.8% 1M -2.8% 1Y
Market cap
$197.49B
P/E
20.4x
Revenue (TTM)
$43.94B
Div. yield
–
CRM and Sales Software Technology
3 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Adobe leads on 7 of the 12 questions below (Adobe 7, Salesforce 3, Blackbaud 1). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionADBEBLKBCRMLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $98.08B $2.40B $197.49B CRM
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 13.5x 15.9x 20.4x ADBE
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 10.3x 11.1x 14.0x ADBE
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +12.0% +0.7% +11.2% ADBE
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 28.0% 13.1% 22.0% ADBE
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 44.3% 16.4% 9.0% ADBE
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA -0.1x 3.6x 1.9x ADBE
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -26.8% -15.5% -2.8% CRM
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -16.6%/yr -4.6%/yr -3.5%/yr CRM
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 42.1% 49.4% 46.8% ADBE
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 65/100 71/100 70/100 BLKB

Percentile Scorecard

ADBEBLKBCRM

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisADBEBLKBCRM
Valuation 61 #12 of 29 91 #10 of 102 76 #25 of 102
Growth 19 #22 of 27 76 #24 of 98 73 #27 of 98
Profitability 100 #1 of 26 85 #15 of 95 88 #12 of 95
Financial Health 60 #13 of 31 17 #91 of 109 43 #63 of 109
Shareholder Returns 88 #3 of 17 84 #11 of 64 70 #20 of 64
Overall 65 71 70
  • ADBE ranked among 32 companies in Workplace Software
  • BLKB ranked among 115 companies in Business Applications
  • CRM ranked among 115 companies in Business Applications

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodADBEBLKBCRMSPY
1 month +9.8%+27.5%+5.8% -0.8%
3 months +8.8%+59.4%+42.7% +3.5%
6 months +8.1%+48.1%+37.4% +7.0%
Year to date -26.1%-13.0%-6.5% +12.2%
1 year -26.8%-15.5%-2.8% +13.0%
3 years -49.1%-15.7%+26.0% +86.3%
3 years, per year -20.2%-5.5%+8.0% +23.1%
5 years -59.6%-20.9%-16.1% +68.6%
5 years, per year -16.6%-4.6%-3.5% +11.0%
10 years +139.5%-15.0%+230.3% +258.0%
10 years, per year +9.1%-1.6%+12.7% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureADBEBLKBCRMSPY
Volatility, 1Y 42.1%49.4%46.8% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 44.0%51.0%41.6% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.240.270.40 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.64-0.31-0.06 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -71.9%-69.8%-59.2% -25.4%
From 52-week high -28.1%-19.0%-7.0% -1.8%
52-week high $359.91$67.95$266.23 $779.14
52-week low $193.41$26.54$150.12 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleADBEBLKBCRM
P/E now vs peer median 14.0xmedian 31.9x 16.4xmedian 28.8x 21.0xmedian 28.8x
P/S now vs peer median 3.9xmedian 2.4x 2.2xmedian 2.8x 4.6xmedian 2.8x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 10.0xmedian 11.5x 11.5xmedian 17.7x 15.5xmedian 17.7x
P/FCF now vs peer median 9.5xmedian 14.2x 7.6xmedian 15.8x 13.4xmedian 15.8x
P/B now vs peer median 8.6xmedian 3.0x 37.4xmedian 3.2x 5.3xmedian 3.2x
PEG now vs peer median 0.77median 0.77 0.20median 0.85 0.22median 0.85

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsADBEBLKBCRM
Revenue $25.97B $1.15B $43.94B
Gross profit $23.18B $684.50M $33.96B
Operating income $9.27B $227.18M $8.74B
Net income $7.28B $150.68M $9.66B
Free cash flow $10.59B $329.16M $15.15B
R&D $4.69B $142.75M $6.37B
EPS (diluted) $18.42 $3.36 $11.77
Cash & equivalents $4.36B $34.39M $8.31B
Total debt $4.77B $1.15B $39.29B
Shares (diluted) 395.50M 44.88M 821.00M
Enterprise value $73.33B $2.25B $153.36B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricADBEBLKBCRM
P/E 14.0x 16.4x 21.0x
P/FCF 9.5x 7.6x 13.4x
P/Operating cash flow 9.4x 7.4x 12.9x
P/S 3.9x 2.2x 4.6x
P/B 8.6x 37.4x 5.3x
P/Tangible book 9.4x -95.1x 6.3x
EV/EBITDA 10.0x 11.5x 15.5x
EV/EBIT 10.8x 15.9x 26.5x
EV/Revenue 3.9x 3.2x 5.3x
EV/FCF 9.5x 11.0x 15.3x
EV/Operating cash flow 9.3x 10.7x 14.7x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.77 0.20 0.22

Growth

14 metrics
MetricADBEBLKBCRM
Revenue growth (1Y) 12.0% 0.7% 11.2%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 11.2% 2.4% 9.9%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 12.2% 6.4% 10.7%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 11.8% 6.4% 11.3%
Operating income growth (1Y) 10.3% 191.2% 9.4%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 13.1% 108.4% 47.8%
Net income growth (1Y) 4.7% 150.7% 45.0%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 12.5% 75.6% 82.9%
EPS growth (1Y) 12.3% 154.5% 69.9%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 18.2% 82.5% 94.5%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 10.4% 38.2% 19.6%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 10.4% 19.9% 23.3%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 10.3% 35.3% 21.3%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 11.6% 20.2% 26.1%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricADBEBLKBCRM
Gross margin 89.3% 59.6% 77.3%
EBITDA margin 38.6% 27.3% 34.0%
Operating margin 35.7% 19.8% 19.9%
Pretax margin 35.7% 14.9% 28.2%
Net margin 28.0% 13.1% 22.0%
FCF margin 40.8% 28.7% 34.5%
Operating cash flow margin 41.6% 29.6% 35.8%
Return on equity 62.6% 296.7% 26.7%
Return on assets 24.3% 6.4% 8.9%
Return on invested capital 44.3% 16.4% 9.0%
Return on capital employed 51.3% 22.7% 10.7%
Asset turnover 0.9x 0.5x 0.4x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.5x 2.3x 1.6x
Stock comp / revenue 8.0% 7.8% 8.3%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricADBEBLKBCRM
Debt / assets 15.9% 44.3% 35.8%
Debt / equity 0.4x 17.2x 1.0x
Net debt / EBITDA -0.1x 3.6x 1.9x
Debt / FCF 0.4x 3.5x 2.6x
Liabilities / assets 60.8% 97.4% 65.0%
Equity / assets 39.2% 2.6% 35.0%
Interest coverage 35.7x 3.4x 9.4x
Current ratio 0.8x 0.8x 0.8x
Quick ratio 0.7x 0.1x 0.7x
Cash ratio 0.5x 0.0x 0.4x
Altman Z-score 7.47 1.26 2.68

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricADBEBLKBCRM
Dividend yield – – 0.7%
Net buyback yield 8.9% 9.0% 16.8%
Shareholder yield 8.9% 9.0% 17.5%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – –
Payout ratio (FCF) – – –
Dividend growth (1Y) – – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusADBEBLKBCRM
Forward P/E 10.3xFY2026 11.1xFY2026 14.0xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $25.10FY2026 $4.94FY2026 $17.65FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +19.9%FY2026 +11.0%FY2026 +41.0%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +5.7% +15.4% -5.3%
Revenue, next fiscal year $24.94BFY2026 $1.14BFY2026 $43.89BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +4.9%FY2026 +1.2%FY2026 +5.7%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +21.1% +0.2% +11.7%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersADBEBLKBCRM
Held by institutions 82.5% 100.0% 80.7%
Institutions holding 1,982 281 2,471
Change in shares held, QoQ +3.7% +9.3% -4.8%
Institutions buying 838 174 1,003
Institutions selling 928 76 1,270
Buyers to sellers 0.90 2.29 0.79

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

ADBEBLKBCRM
ADBE 1.00 0.60 0.76
BLKB 0.60 1.00 0.62
CRM 0.76 0.62 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, ADBE, BLKB and CRM?

Salesforce (CRM) is the largest by market capitalisation: Adobe (ADBE) $98.08B, Blackbaud (BLKB) $2.40B, Salesforce (CRM) $197.49B.

Which stock is cheaper, ADBE, BLKB and CRM?

Adobe (ADBE) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Adobe (ADBE) 13.5x, Blackbaud (BLKB) 15.9x, Salesforce (CRM) 20.4x). On next year's consensus earnings, Adobe (ADBE) is cheapest (Adobe (ADBE) 10.3x, Blackbaud (BLKB) 11.1x, Salesforce (CRM) 14.0x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Adobe (ADBE) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Adobe (ADBE) +12.0%, Blackbaud (BLKB) +0.7%, Salesforce (CRM) +11.2%.

Which company is more profitable?

Adobe (ADBE) has the highest net margin (Adobe (ADBE) 28.0%, Blackbaud (BLKB) 13.1%, Salesforce (CRM) 22.0%). On return on invested capital, Adobe (ADBE) leads (Adobe (ADBE) 44.3%, Blackbaud (BLKB) 16.4%, Salesforce (CRM) 9.0%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Salesforce (CRM) returned the most: Adobe (ADBE) -26.8%, Blackbaud (BLKB) -15.5%, Salesforce (CRM) -2.8%. Over five years, Salesforce (CRM) compounded fastest (Adobe (ADBE) -16.6%/yr, Blackbaud (BLKB) -4.6%/yr, Salesforce (CRM) -3.5%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Adobe (ADBE) has been the steadiest (Adobe (ADBE) 42.1%, Blackbaud (BLKB) 49.4%, Salesforce (CRM) 46.8%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, ADBE, BLKB and CRM?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Adobe (ADBE) leads on 7. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.