For most investors, how much a stock's price changes over time is important. This factor can impact your investment portfolio as well as help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.
Another thing that can drive investing is the fear of missing out, or FOMO. This particularly applies to tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.
What if you'd invested in Autodesk (ADSK) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to ADSK for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?
Autodesk's Business In-Depth
With that in mind, let's take a look at Autodesk's main business drivers.
San Fransisco, CA-based Autodesk develops model-based design, engineering and documentation software. The company serves customers in architecture, engineering and construction; product design and manufacturing; and digital media and entertainment industries.
Autodesk recognizes revenue from the sale of product subscriptions, cloud service offerings, and Enterprise Business Agreements (EBAs), renewal fees for existing maintenance plan agreements that were initially purchased with a perpetual software license, and consulting, training and other goods and services. Autodesk reported revenues of $6.13 billion in fiscal 2025. Total maintenance and subscription revenues accounted for 84.3% of revenues, while the rest came from License and other.
Autodesk has four product families: Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Operations (AECO) that, Manufacturing (MFG), AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT (ACAD) and Media and Entertainment (M&E).
AECO solutions include AutoCAD Civil 3D, BIM 360, Industry Collections and PlanGrid to improve the way building, infrastructure, and industrial projects are designed, built, and operated. The product segment contributed 47.9% to revenues in fiscal 2025.
MFG, which includes CAM solutions, Fusion 360, Vault and Industry Collections,provides manufacturers in automotive, transportation, industrial machinery, consumer products and building product industries with comprehensive digital design, engineering, manufacturing and production solutions. The product line contributed 19.4% to revenues in fiscal 2025.
ACAD comprises AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT. AutoCAD software is a customizable and extensible CAD application for professional design, drafting, detailing, and visualization. AutoCAD LT software is purpose built for professional drafting and detailing. The product line contributed 25.6% to revenues in fiscal 2025.
Media and entertainment products includes Maya, Shotgun, 3ds Max and Industry Collections that provide tools for digital sculpting, modeling, animation, effects, rendering, and compositing for design visualization, visual effects and games production. The product segment contributed 5.1% to revenues in fiscal 2025.
Geographically, Americas contributed 44.3% to revenues in fiscal 2025. Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), and Asia Pacific contributed 37.6% and 18.1%, respectively.
Bottom Line
Anyone can invest, but building a successful investment portfolio requires research, patience, and a little bit of risk. So, if you had invested in Autodesk, ten years ago, you're likely feeling pretty good about your investment today.
A $1000 investment made in September 2015 would be worth $7,193.52, or a 619.35% gain, as of September 8, 2025, according to our calculations. Investors should note that this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.
Compare this to the S&P 500's rally of 237.36% and gold's return of 207.90% over the same time frame.
Going forward, analysts are expecting more upside for ADSK.
Autodesk delivered strong second-quarter fiscal 2026 results with revenue of $1.763 billion, up 17% year-over-year. GAAP EPS increased to $1.46 from $1.30, while non-GAAP EPS rose to $2.62. Billings surged 36% to $1.678 billion, driven by the new transaction model. Operating margin reached 25% (GAAP) and 39% (non-GAAP). AECO segment led growth at 23%, benefiting from data center and infrastructure investments. Free cash flow jumped 122% to $451 million. ADSK raised full-year revenue guidance to $7.025-$7.075 billion and increased free cash flow outlook. Autodesk's innovation in AI, BIM, and generative design as key growth drivers for the future. However, muted growth in Maintenance revenues due to the continued migration of maintenance plans to subscriptions is affecting the top line. Shares have underperformed the industry year-to-date.
Over the past four weeks, shares have rallied 12.28%, and there have been 10 higher earnings estimate revisions in the past two months for fiscal 2025 compared to none lower. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.
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Autodesk, Inc. (ADSK): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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