Adobe rises; William Blair assumes coverage with 'market perform'

Photoshop maker Adobe's ADBE.O shares rise 2.3% to $242.80

William Blair assumes coverage and downgrades stock to "market perform" from "outperform"

Flags intense competition co faces, particularly in its core product, Creative Cloud

Brokerage notes rival companies Canva and Figma FIG.N are scaling rapidly, with annual recurring revenue growing over 30% and 40%, respectively

"In comparison, Adobe's Digital Media segment is much larger at a $19 billion run-rate, but growing in the low double digits" - William Blair

Avg. rating of 40 analysts is "buy;" their median PT is $310 - data compiled by LSEG

ADBE has fallen 30.6% YTD