NEW YORK, March 27, 2026, 15:52 EDT
- Arete Research cut Autodesk’s price target to $456 from $460 on Thursday and kept a buy rating. 1
- Morgan Stanley reiterated an Overweight rating and a $350 target on March 18 after analyst Elizabeth Porter cited “stable reseller checks” in February. 2
- Autodesk shares were down 3.5% at $231.55 by 3:37 p.m. EDT on Friday, while the Nasdaq Composite was off 1.97%. 3
Autodesk drew fresh attention on Friday after Arete Research trimmed its target on the design-software maker but kept a buy rating, extending a run of supportive calls even as the stock fell with the wider tech market. Shares were down 3.5% at $231.55 by 3:37 p.m. EDT. 1
Support from analysts is one thing. Friday’s market is another. Autodesk is coming off a strong February quarter just as investors are repricing software stocks; Reuters said the Nasdaq was down 1.97% and the S&P 500 software and services index nearly 3%, leaving less room for missteps. 4
Arete lowered its target to $456 from $460 on Thursday, according to MT Newswires and MarketBeat. Before that, Morgan Stanley reiterated Overweight and a $350 target on March 18; in a Feb. 23 note, analyst Elizabeth Porter said “stable reseller checks” supported the setup into the quarter. 1
The numbers were solid. Autodesk said fourth-quarter revenue rose 19% to $1.957 billion, billings — contracted sales not yet booked as revenue — climbed 33% to $2.804 billion, and non-GAAP earnings per share were $2.85; it guided fiscal 2027 revenue to $8.10 billion to $8.17 billion and free cash flow to $2.7 billion to $2.8 billion. 4
Management kept pressing the AI case. Chief Executive Andrew Anagnost said the push will depend on “specialized data,” while Chief Financial Officer Janesh Moorjani called the period “another strong quarter” and flagged strength in AECO, Autodesk’s architecture, engineering, construction and operations business, especially in construction and emerging markets. 4
Autodesk also stood out in a design-software earnings roundup published late Thursday. StockStory said it was the best fourth-quarter performer in the seven-stock group it follows, while Procore Technologies also beat estimates and Unity delivered a mixed quarter, with weaker forward profitability guidance weighing on its shares. 5
But the setup is not clean. Morgan Stanley said it was encouraged by stronger month-on-month trends in billings, inquiries and design contracts, yet added that the path to a pickup in billings growth remained unclear and underlying architecture demand was still soft. 2
There is also a market problem Autodesk cannot fix on its own. Reuters reported the Nasdaq was down 1.97% on Friday as oil prices and Middle East tensions hit risk appetite, and Autodesk is still working through a January plan to cut about 7% of its workforce, or roughly 1,000 jobs, to redirect spending into cloud and AI. 3
That leaves investors watching whether a stronger quarter, higher guidance and tighter cost control can turn analyst optimism into a steadier stock move. Based on Autodesk’s guidance and Morgan Stanley’s caution on demand, that will likely hinge on whether billings hold up and construction and architecture spending do not soften further. 4
