What Happened?
Shares of 3D design software company Autodesk (NASDAQ: ADSK) jumped 7.5% in the morning session after the company reported second-quarter financial results that exceeded Wall Street expectations and raised its full-year guidance.
For its second quarter, Autodesk announced revenue of $1.76 billion, a 17.1% increase year-over-year, which beat analyst estimates by 2.3%. The company's adjusted earnings per share of $2.62 also surpassed expectations by a strong 6.9%.
A key highlight was the company's billings, a measure of cash revenue that shows money collected from customers, which surged 35.9% year-over-year to $1.68 billion. Looking ahead, Autodesk provided an optimistic outlook, raising its full-year revenue guidance to a midpoint of $7.05 billion and issuing a next-quarter revenue forecast that was 1.9% above consensus.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Autodesk’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 4 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 9 months ago when the stock dropped 10.2% on the news that the company reported underwhelming third-quarter results. Revenue in the quarter was just in line. Management acknowledged that growth had slowed compared to recent years. Looking ahead, the business is tracking toward the lower end of its guidance range. This implies that, without stronger performance in the upcoming quarters, the company may struggle to meet its projections. By the market reaction, it seems like stronger beats and/or guidance were perhaps expected.
Autodesk is up 5.8% since the beginning of the year, and at $310.58 per share, it is trading close to its 52-week high of $321.27 from November 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Autodesk’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,263.
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