Autodesk
Autodesk's revenue rose 17.5% to $7.2 billion in fiscal 2026. Its operating margin was 21.9%, down from 22.1% a year earlier. Free cash flow was $2.4 billion, up 53.7%. It paid out $1.4 billion in dividends and buybacks, 58% of free cash flow. The diluted share count fell 0.9%.
Operating margin is operating income as a share of revenue. Free cash flow is cash from operations minus capital spending. Return on capital is after-tax operating income as a share of the money invested in the business: debt plus equity, minus cash. Market cap is the last closing share price times the latest diluted share count, so it is approximate. P/E is the last close divided by diluted earnings per share over the last four quarters, or the latest fiscal year where the quarters aren't available; there is none when the company made a loss.
What Autodesk does
Autodesk sells design and engineering software. Architects, engineers, builders, product makers and film and game studios use it to draw, model, simulate and manage projects before they are built. Its best-known products are AutoCAD and Revit for buildings and infrastructure, Fusion and Inventor for product design and manufacturing, and Maya and 3ds Max for animation and visual effects.
Autodesk earns revenue mainly from subscriptions, where customers pay for term-based access to desktop software and cloud services, including enterprise agreements that cover many users. It describes its offerings in three groups: architecture, engineering, construction and operations; manufacturing; and media and entertainment. It sells through its own online store and sales staff, and through a network of about 1,170 resellers and distributors. For fiscal 2026, approximately 37% of revenue came from indirect sales through distributors and resellers. It is moving to a new transaction model in which resellers quote a price but the sale is made directly between Autodesk and the customer.
Autodesk says it expects international sales to remain the majority of net revenue. It names large global software firms, small regional firms, startups and in-house tools as competitors.
Its biggest risks, as it describes them
- Reliance on a small number of products, mainly AutoCAD-based software, for a large share of revenue.
- Difficulty predicting whether customers will renew their subscriptions.
- Competition and fast technology change that could cut its revenue and profit.
- Dependence on resellers and distributors, and changes in how it sells through them.
- Security breaches, software defects or outages, and the risks of adding AI to its products.
Charts show fiscal years, from the 10-K filings.
Revenue and margins
Net income and earnings per share
From fiscal 2020 to 2026, earnings per share grew 32.6% a year and net income 31.8% a year, as buybacks cut the share count by 3%.
Returns on capital
Cash flow
Payouts and share count
Valuation
Two ways to value Autodesk yourself, both starting from its filings: a discounted cash flow model and the price-to-earnings method.
Discounted cash flow (DCF)
A discounted cash flow (DCF) model values a business as the cash it may generate in future, discounted back to today. The starting figures come from Autodesk's 10-K (or, for net cash and shares, its latest 10-Q) and the assumptions are yours: start from one of three example scenarios, then change any figure to see what it implies for a share, and how that compares with the last share price.
Value per share on three example scenarios, from Autodesk's fiscal 2026 free cash flow of $2.4B, net cash of $97M at January 31, 2026 and 215 million diluted shares, from its filings. The scenarios are fitted to Autodesk: the base scenario's growth in years 1 to 5 is its revenue growth over the last 3 years, 12.9% a year; the cautious and optimistic ones are lower and higher, and growth in years 6 to 10 is halfway to the long-run rate. The base scenario's discount rate is 9% for a business of moderate risk (Application Software); the cautious and optimistic ones use a point more and a point less. Select one to load it into the calculator. These are the model's arithmetic on those assumptions, not a forecast or a price target.
- Last close, October 26, 2026
- $249.45
- Value on these assumptions, against the last close
- —
- Cash flows in years 1 to 10, valued today
- —
- Everything after year 10, valued today
- —
- Plus net cash
- —
- Share of value from after year 10
How the value changes with two assumptions
Price-to-earnings (P/E) method
Another common way to value a company is to multiply its earnings per share by a price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple: the number of years of today's earnings an investor pays for a share. A higher multiple usually means investors expect earnings to grow. Choose a multiple, for example from similar companies, to see the value it gives.
Value per share on three example scenarios, from Autodesk's earnings per share of $7.72 (over the last four quarters). Each grows earnings for a year at the cash flow scenarios' rates and applies a multiple to next year's earnings: 34×, the middle of Autodesk's own P/E today, its peers' median and its sector's median (the Information Technology median) for the base scenario, 20% less and more for the cautious and optimistic ones. The price is brought back a year at 10%, 9% and 8%. Select one to load it into the calculator. These are the model's arithmetic on those assumptions, not a forecast or a price target.
- Last close, October 26, 2026
- $249.45
- Value at this multiple, against the last close
- —
- Autodesk's P/E at the last close
- 32.3×
| Company | Last close | Earnings per share | P/E today |
|---|---|---|---|
| SynopsysSNPS | $454.33 | $5.72 | 79.4× |
| WorkdayWDAY | $208.50 | $4.94 | 42.2× |
| AutodeskADSK | $249.45 | $7.72 | 32.3× |
| SS&C TechnologiesSSNC | $82.01 | $3.47 | 23.6× |
Balance sheet
| Fiscal year end | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 | FY26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash and short-term investments | 1,764 | 2,072 | 2,246 | 1,886 | 2,597 |
| Debt incl. finance leases | 2,650 | 2,300 | 2,300 | 2,300 | 2,500 |
| Net debt (negative means net cash) | 886 | 228 | 54 | 414 | −97 |
| Net debt to EBITDA | 1.2x | 0.2x | 0.0x | 0.3x | −0.1x |
| Debt to equity | 3.1x | 2.0x | 1.2x | 0.9x | 0.8x |
| Interest coverage | 10.7x | 11.9x | 15.9x | 19.1x | 19.7x |
| Current ratio | 0.7x | 0.8x | 0.8x | 0.7x | 0.8x |
| Quick ratio | 0.7x | 0.8x | 0.8x | 0.7x | 0.8x |
Insider trades
Over the 12 months between October 27, 2025 and October 26, 2026, 4 insiders bought $2.2 million of Autodesk shares on the open market, and none sold any.
| Date | Insider | Trade | Shares | Price | Value | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 23, 2026 | John T CahillDirector | Bought | 2,000 | $189.20 | $378,400 | Form 4 |
| Jun 16, 2026 | Andrew AnagnostPresident and CEO, Director | Bought | 2,460 | $202.66 | $498,544 | Form 4 |
| Jun 15, 2026 | Janesh MoorjaniEVP, Chief Financial Officer | Bought | 2,500 | $197.67 | $494,175 | Form 4 |
| May 29, 2026 | Stacy J SmithDirector | Bought | 3,435 | $231.17 | $794,054 | Form 4 |
Piotroski F-score
The F-score counts how many of nine simple tests of profitability, funding and efficiency a company passed in a year (Piotroski, 2000). The more tests passed, the stronger the year: 8 or 9 is strong, 0 to 2 weak. Companies that report no gross profit are scored on the other eight.
| Test | FY24 | FY25 | FY26 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net income is positive | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Cash from operations is positive | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Return on assets rose | Pass | Pass | Fail |
| Cash from operations exceeds net income | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Debt fell relative to assets | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Current ratio rose | Fail | Fail | Pass |
| Share count didn't rise | Pass | Fail | Pass |
| Gross margin rose | Pass | Fail | Pass |
| Revenue rose relative to assets | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| F-score | 8 of 9 | 6 of 9 | 8 of 9 |
| Accruals ratio | −4.2% | −4.8% | −11.4% |
Compare
Put Autodesk side by side with any other company we cover: revenue, growth, margins, cash flow and returns, with ten years of charts.
Similar companies
| Company | Year | Revenue growth | Operating margin | Free cash flow margin | Return on capital | Net debt to EBITDA | F-score | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Autodesk | FY26 | 17.5% | 21.9% | 33.4% | 37.0% | −0.1x | 8 | |
| Synopsys | FY25 | 15.1% | 13.0% | 19.1% | 4.0% | 6.7x | 3 | Compare |
| Atlassian | FY26 | 26.0% | 0.2% | 20.1% | — | −1.7x | 7 | Compare |
| SS&C Technologies | FY25 | 6.6% | 22.9% | 26.5% | 8.7% | 3.3x | 6 | Compare |
| Workday | FY26 | 13.1% | 7.5% | 29.1% | 10.6% | −2.6x | 7 | Compare |
10 years of figures
| Fiscal year | FY17 | FY18 | FY19 | FY20 | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 | FY26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income statement | ||||||||||
| Revenue | 2,031 | 2,057 | 2,570 | 3,274 | 3,790 | 4,386 | 5,005 | 5,497 | 6,131 | 7,206 |
| Revenue growth | −18.9% | 1.3% | 24.9% | 27.4% | 15.8% | 15.7% | 14.1% | 9.8% | 11.5% | 17.5% |
| Gross profit | 1,689 | 1,753 | 2,284 | 2,949 | 3,453 | 3,968 | 4,525 | 4,986 | 5,553 | 6,556 |
| Research and development | 766 | 756 | 725 | 851 | 932 | 1,115 | 1,219 | 1,373 | 1,485 | 1,643 |
| Operating income | −500 | −509 | −25 | 343 | 629 | 618 | 989 | 1,128 | 1,354 | 1,578 |
| Net income | −582 | −567 | −81 | 214 | 1,208 | 497 | 823 | 906 | 1,112 | 1,124 |
| Diluted EPS (US$) | −2.61 | −2.58 | −0.37 | 0.96 | 5.44 | 2.24 | 3.78 | 4.19 | 5.12 | 5.23 |
| Diluted shares (millions) | 223 | 220 | 219 | 222 | 222 | 222 | 218 | 216 | 217 | 215 |
| Cash flow | ||||||||||
| Cash from operations | 170 | 1 | 377 | 1,415 | 1,437 | 1,531 | 2,071 | 1,313 | 1,607 | 2,452 |
| Capital expenditure | 76 | 51 | 67 | 53 | 91 | 56 | 40 | 31 | 40 | 43 |
| Free cash flow | 94 | −50 | 310 | 1,362 | 1,346 | 1,475 | 2,031 | 1,282 | 1,567 | 2,409 |
| Dividends paid | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Share buybacks | 622 | 699 | 294 | 442 | 552 | 1,079 | 1,101 | 795 | 852 | 1,402 |
| Acquisitions | 85 | 0 | 1,040 | 0 | 246 | 1,250 | 96 | 70 | 825 | 0 |
| Stock-based compensation | 222 | 261 | 250 | 362 | 398 | 555 | 657 | 703 | 683 | 788 |
| Balance sheet at fiscal year end | ||||||||||
| Cash and short-term investments | 1,900 | 1,323 | 954 | 1,844 | 1,776 | 1,764 | 2,072 | 2,246 | 1,886 | 2,597 |
| Debt incl. finance leases | 1,092 | 1,586 | 2,088 | 2,100 | 1,650 | 2,650 | 2,300 | 2,300 | 2,300 | 2,500 |
| Total assets | 4,798 | 4,114 | 4,729 | 6,179 | 7,280 | 8,607 | 9,438 | 9,912 | 10,833 | 12,467 |
| Total liabilities | 4,064 | 4,370 | 4,940 | 6,318 | 6,315 | 7,758 | 8,293 | 8,057 | 8,212 | 9,422 |
| Shareholders' equity | 734 | −256 | −211 | −139 | 965 | 849 | 1,145 | 1,855 | 2,621 | 3,045 |
| Margins and ratios | ||||||||||
| Gross margin | 83.2% | 85.2% | 88.9% | 90.1% | 91.1% | 90.5% | 90.4% | 90.7% | 90.6% | 91.0% |
| Operating margin | −24.6% | −24.8% | −1.0% | 10.5% | 16.6% | 14.1% | 19.8% | 20.5% | 22.1% | 21.9% |
| Net margin | −28.7% | −27.6% | −3.1% | 6.5% | 31.9% | 11.3% | 16.4% | 16.5% | 18.1% | 15.6% |
| Free cash flow margin | 4.6% | −2.4% | 12.1% | 41.6% | 35.5% | 33.6% | 40.6% | 23.3% | 25.6% | 33.4% |
| Return on capital | — | — | −4.2% | — | — | 42.2% | 55.4% | 54.8% | 44.0% | 37.0% |
| Return on equity | −49.5% | −237.4% | — | — | 292.5% | 54.8% | 82.5% | 60.4% | 49.7% | 39.7% |
| Return on assets | −11.3% | −12.7% | −1.8% | 3.9% | 17.9% | 6.3% | 9.1% | 9.4% | 10.7% | 9.7% |
| Net debt to EBITDA | — | — | 16.2x | 0.5x | −0.2x | 1.2x | 0.2x | 0.0x | 0.3x | −0.1x |