However, the arrival of AI - of which Adobe is likely to be one of the major beneficiaries on all its creative platforms - and the Group's excellent 2022 results lifted the spirits a few weeks later. 
 
MarketScreener was able to capitalize on this mood swing: thanks to recent developments, the stock, which has long been at the top of the list among our various quantitative selections, had indeed joined the US portfolio for the second time in its history.
 
The results for the first half of 2022, published yesterday, should not mark any further inflexion in the Group's valuation, which has returned to its pre-pandemic levels. They show sales growth of 9.5%, albeit without any margin expansion, since Adobe is pulling out all the stops in terms of R&D and marketing as it enters the AI battle. 
 
After an exceptional 2012-2022 decade, which saw its sales quadruple, the world leader in creative software has become a virtual monopoly in the professional segment - for the professions concerned, a genuine standard, comparable, for example, to that of Microsoft Office in office automation.
 
Unlike others who try to capitalize on buzzwords, all the technological fashions of the moment - cloud, SaaS, tomorrow AI - have sustained its business. Each technological pivot has enabled the company to improve its profitability and consolidate its various franchises. 
 
Moreover, unlike Oracle - discussed a few days ago in this column - which is a "cannibal", i.e. a compulsive buyer of its own shares, Adobe's capital allocation remains firmly oriented towards external growth. 
 
It's fair to say that this formula has worked extremely well for Adobe. Adobe still boasts a return on equity of around 30%, despite the absence of financial leverage. True to form, a few weeks ago Tommy Douziech wrote a rousing presentation of the company's various merits.