Adobe Systems Inc (ADBE.O) reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit and forecast current-quarter above analysts' estimates, as the software maker benefits from a rapid switch to the cloud.

The company's shares were up about four per cent at record level of US$146 in after-market trading on Tuesday.

Adobe has been pushing deeper into cloud-based subscription services, which have a more predictable revenue stream as opposed to revenue from the sale of packaged-licensed software.

Revenue in Adobe's digital media business, whose flagship product is the Creative Cloud, rose 29 per cent to US$1.21 billion in the second quarter, beating analysts' estimate of US$1.17 billion, according to financial data and analytics firm FactSet.

Creative Cloud includes the company's popular photo-editing software Photoshop and web video building application Flash. The company's Behance online creative community has over nine million members.

Robust demand for Creative Cloud also helped revenue in the overall creative business exceed the US$1 billion mark for the first time in the latest quarter.

Digital Media Annualized Recurring Revenue at US$4.56 billion also edged past analysts' estimate of US$4.54 billion, according to FactSet.

Adobe said 86 per cent of revenue in the latest quarter came from recurring sources.

Strong adoption and retention of Document Cloud, which includes the Acrobat Reader, also boosted annualized recurring revenue, the company said.

Adobe said it expects Digital Media Annualized Recurring Revenue to increase by US$300 million in the third quarter.

Subscription revenue rose nearly 37 per cent to US$1.48 billion in the three months ended June 2.

Adobe forecast third-quarter adjusted profit of US$1.00 per share and revenue of US$1.82 billion, above analysts' average estimate for a profit of 97 cents US and revenue of US$1.80 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Adobe's net income rose to US$374.4 million, or 75 cents US per share, in the second quarter, from US$244.1 million, or 48 cents US per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned US$1.02 per share.

Revenue jumped 26.7 per cent to US$1.77 billion.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 95 cents US per share and revenue of US$1.73 billion.