ADOBE INC. vs MICROSOFT CORPORATION, two Software stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Adobe and Microsoft are both software royalty, and the smaller one looks cheaper on almost every line. Adobe trades near 12 times earnings to Microsoft's 26, earns the higher return on equity, 63% to 28, and throws off a far larger free-cash yield, 12% to 2.5%. Microsoft's answer is scale and diversification, a 46% operating margin across cloud, enterprise, and consumer that Adobe's focused suite cannot match. Microsoft is the platform; Adobe the specialist, priced at the steep discount the market attaches to its narrower moat.
Comparison updated 2026-06-15.
| Metric | ADBE | MSFT |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $223.70 | $385.09 |
| Market cap | $90.0B | $2.87T |
| Sector | Software | Software |
| Stage | Mature | Mature |
| Implied growth (priced in) | -2.3% | +15.0% |
| P/E | 12.8 | 22.9 |
| P/B | 7.82 | 6.92 |
| P/S | 3.57 | 9.01 |
| EV/EBITDA | 9.8 | 15.8 |
| Revenue growth | +11.5% | +17.9% |
| Gross margin | 89.2% | 67.6% |
| Operating margin | 33.8% | 46.3% |
| Net margin | 28.7% | 36.0% |
| Return on equity | 62.8% | 27.6% |
| Return on assets | 24.1% | 16.5% |
| Return on invested capital | 38.3% | 26.0% |
| FCF yield | 11.4% | 2.5% |
| Dividend yield | — | 0.9% |
| Debt / equity | 0.58 | 0.12 |
| Current ratio | 0.75 | 1.28 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 6.18 | 7.32 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 7 / 9 | 5 / 9 |
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The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.