Shares of Adobe Systems Inc. plunged almost 30 percent on Thursday, sliding to their lowest level since May 1999, a day after the publishing software maker cut its third-quarter earnings outlook.
Shares of Adobe tumbled $7.13 to $16.83 on heavy trade on Nasdaq, where it was among the most active issues and also the percentage loss leader.
After the market closed on Wednesday, the maker of publishing software said its third-quarter earnings per share would fall short of its target, on revenue that would be 10 percent down on its previous forecast.
San Jose, California-based Adobe blamed weak sales in July, particularly in Japan and Europe, for the lowered outlook.
A string of brokerage firms cut their estimates in reaction.
Among them, Merrill Lynch analyst Jay Vleeschhouwer said he reduced his intermediate stock rating for Adobe to "neutral" from "strong buy" and lowered his third- and fourth-quarter earnings and revenue targets.
"They continue to face what a lot of other software and technology companies are facing, which is constrained demand, even for upgrades," Vleeschhouwer said, noting that sales of the latest version of its image editing software Photoshop appeared to have weakened in July.