Autodesk tops Q3, lifts FY26 guide; growth to normalize next year

Transcript intelligence

What changed

Both quarters beat and raised guidance, but Q3 showed a growth profile converging toward the underlying business: revenue growth printed 18% YoY and billings growth moderated to 21% from 36% in Q2. The transaction-model contribution rose to $124M of revenue and $135M of billings in Q3 (from $105M and $129M in Q2), and management was more explicit that this benefit, plus the annual-billing shift, will diminish in FY2027. Full-year revenue, billings, non-GAAP margin and free-cash-flow guidance were all raised again, and the buyback stepped up to $1.3B in FY2026.

Guidance delta

Raised

Key takeaways

• Q3 beat guidance with 18% revenue growth and 21% billings growth; nonlinear results of EPS $2.67 vs $2.50 estimated and revenue of $1.853B vs $1.807B estimated
• Full-year FY2026 guidance raised for revenue ($7.15-7.165B), billings ($7.465-7.525B), non-GAAP margin (~37.5% underlying) and free cash flow ($2.26-2.29B)
• The new transaction model contributed $124M to revenue and $135M to billings in Q3; management flagged this boost will diminish in FY2027
• AI-powered sketch auto-constraint generated over 2.6M constraints with 60% acceptance and 90% of accepted sketches fully constrained
• Autodesk repurchased $1.3B of shares in FY2026, a 50% increase over FY2025

Management priorities

• Deepen AI capabilities and expand AI-driven workflow automation
• Broaden industry-cloud offerings and increase platform ecosystem adoption
• Accelerate Construction Cloud and Fusion 360 penetration across new geographies
• Continue the stock repurchase program, targeting $1.3B in FY2026
• Shift channel incentives toward new-business generation and automate renewals