Autodesk, Inc. (ADSK) Earnings & Analysis

Latest quarter

Autodesk reported Q2 FY2027 revenue of $2.0 billion, up 16.1% from Q2 FY2026. The company reported adjusted EPS, as the consensus counts it, of $3.30 against the consensus of $3.12, or 5.77% above the consensus. Autodesk also reported revenue, as the consensus counts it, of $2.0 billion versus consensus revenue of $2.0 billion, exceeding the consensus by 1.84%.

The filing said subscription revenue increased as existing customers expanded subscriptions, while the company’s AECO, AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT, MFG, and M&E product families each reported higher revenue. Autodesk reported gross margin of 91.4%, compared with 91.0% a year earlier, and operating margin of 29.3%, compared with 25.2%. The company reported free cash flow of $554.0 million, up 24.8% from Q2 FY2026.

Adjusted EPS is the figure the consensus estimates, not the GAAP EPS above.

What management said on the call

Chief Financial Officer Janesh Moorjani said the business’s underlying momentum was consistent with prior quarters, with strength in AECO, particularly construction and emerging markets. He said the sales reorganization’s impact was within Autodesk’s expected range, while the Americas, APAC, Eastern Europe and the Middle East were normalizing earlier than Western Europe. Moorjani said renewal rates remained strong and billings linearity during the quarter was better than Autodesk expected.

Moorjani said Autodesk continued reducing multi-year discounts, including winding down multi-year renewals for its maintenance-to-subscription program. He said the company expects reduced discounting to benefit price realization over time, while temporarily weighing on unbilled deferred revenue and remaining performance obligation growth. He also said Q2 GAAP operating margin increased primarily because of underlying margin improvements and lower stock-based compensation as a percentage of revenue, while non-GAAP operating margin reflected operating leverage and sales optimization.

Chief Executive Officer Andrew Anagnost said Autodesk’s strategy is to connect design, make and operate workflows through project intelligence. Anagnost said MaintainX extends that effort into assets’ operating lifecycles, adding information on how assets function in the real world. When analysts asked about integration, he said Autodesk had only recently completed the acquisition and was focusing on back-office integration and maintaining MaintainX’s momentum; he said the company expects opportunities with enterprise accounts, European expansion and the AEC sector.

Anagnost told analysts that Autodesk would use different AI models depending on the task, with its data, customer context and workflow experience intended to provide fast, accurate and cost-effective answers. He said task-based AI automation is included in some subscription offerings, while Autodesk expects more consumption-based revenue as it moves toward workflow and systems-level automation. Anagnost also said Autodesk expects to charge for API and machine-driven access to its capabilities, though he did not quantify that future revenue.

Moorjani said fiscal 2027 includes Autodesk’s largest EBA renewal cohort, concentrated in Q4, and cited Western Europe’s new-business productivity normalization as work remaining in the second half. He said Autodesk expects cost of revenue, marketing and sales, research and development, and general and administrative expenses to increase in Q3, with general and administrative expenses expected to rise more slowly than revenue.

Guidance

Autodesk raised FY2027 revenue guidance to $8.295 billion to $8.345 billion and billings guidance to $8.575 billion to $8.65 billion. The company revised FY2027 GAAP operating-margin guidance to 25.0% to 27.0%, citing the GAAP accounting effects of the MaintainX acquisition. Autodesk narrowed FY2027 free-cash-flow guidance to $2.725 billion to $2.75 billion. The company said it will stop disclosing design and make revenue and will disclose maintenance revenue for four quarters.