03:09 PM EST, 11/12/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Adobe (ADBE) investors believe it could be years before the company's generative artificial intelligence technology is properly monetized, Oppenheimer said in a note Tuesday.

The firm said it had spoken to some of Adobe's customers during the company's annual digital media conference last month and found that most planned to implement the software provider's generative AI technology over the next 12 months.

"This development is positive for Firefly adoption and should be additive to Adobe's growth in fiscal 2025 and beyond," Oppenheimer said in the note.

However, the firm noted that the pace of monetization for Adobe's generative AI technology had "disappointed."

"Management has been slow to raise pricing or reduce credit caps on Firefly, given the strategy for gaining virality over monetization in the earlier days of the technology's evolution," Oppenheimer said.

Oppenheimer noted that Firefly could be slow to monetize as lower-end tools improve and demand for Adobe's more sophisticated tools erode in favor of options from smaller companies.

Adobe will have to juggle between maintaining dominance at the higher end, while simultaneously innovating quickly enough to prevent competitors from clinching away users with less demanding needs.

Oppenheimer said the question wasn't whether Adobe will survive, but the time it would take the company to reach a "better place" for installed-base monetization with generative AI technology.

The firm reiterated its outperform rating on the stock with a price target of $625.

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