Should You Pick Autodesk Stock Over Its Competitors?
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Autodesk (ADSK) carries the third-highest price against earnings among a group of five application software companies that includes PTC, Adobe and Synopsys. The company also ranks third in both sales growth and operating margin. A middle price for middle results looks fair, but the rival PTC ranks ahead of Autodesk on growth and margin while costing less. So how much more do you pay for Autodesk than for PTC, and how far behind PTC is it?
Autodesk Costs More Than PTC Despite Slower Growth
You pay 32.3 times earnings for Autodesk, compared with 18.2 times for PTC. Over the latest four fiscal quarters for each company, Autodesk grew revenue 17.9% while PTC grew 19.5%. PTC also kept more of each sale. It turned 38.2% of its revenue into operating profit, against 27.9% at Autodesk.
| ADSK | PTC | BSY | ADBE | SNPS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Four Fiscal Quarters | ended 2026-07-31 (Q3 FY2026 to Q2 FY2027) | ended 2026-06-30 (Q4 FY2025 to Q3 FY2026) | ended 2026-06-30 (Q3 FY2025 to Q2 FY2026) | ended 2026-08-28 (Q4 FY2025 to Q3 FY2026) | ended 2026-07-31 (Q4 FY2025 to Q3 FY2026) |
| Market Value (USD billion) | 53 | 22.3 | 13.1 | 97.2 | 88.7 |
| P/E | 32.3 | 18.2 | 45.3 | 13.3 | 82.4 |
| Revenue Growth | 17.9% | 19.5% | 12.8% | 12% | 46.3% |
| Operating Margin | 27.9% | 38.2% | 23.6% | 35.7% | 11% |
| Total Return, Incl. Dividends, 2025-10-31 to 2026-11-03 | -16.3% | -2.3% | -16.5% | -27.7% | 2% |
Against the rest of the group, the picture is mixed. Synopsys costs more and grows faster, and Adobe costs less and grows slower. Adobe also carries the higher operating margin, reporting 35.7% against 27.9% for Autodesk. Bentley Systems costs more than Autodesk while trailing it on both growth and margin. PTC is the one company in the group that offers more of both for a lower price.
Autodesk’s Biggest Business Is Architecture And Construction Software
Autodesk’s largest segment, Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Operations, brought in $3.58 billion in fiscal 2026 to make up about half of company revenue. Segment revenue grew 22.0% that year, compared with 13.7% for AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT. Management said on the fiscal Q2 2027 call that the construction business is growing at more than 20%, and they noted that the use of technology in construction is still very low.
Autodesk is also keeping more of what it sells. The company’s operating margin over the twelve months to July 2026 was 27.9%, up from 22.9% a year earlier. That marks its highest margin at any quarter end in data going back to fiscal 2017. Even so, the figure remains well short of PTC’s. The higher price appears to assume that Autodesk’s margin keeps climbing toward PTC’s level while its largest business keeps growing.
What Autodesk Expects For The Rest Of Fiscal 2027
In August, management raised the company’s fiscal 2027 revenue forecast to a midpoint of $8.32 billion, up from $8.19 billion in May. That midpoint sits about 15% above the $7.21 billion Autodesk reported for fiscal 2026. About $60 million of the second-half revenue is expected to come from MaintainX, the business Autodesk bought in August to expand into operations.
However, management lowered its reported operating margin forecast for fiscal 2027 to 26% at the midpoint from 27%, mainly because of the accounting effects of the MaintainX purchase. Autodesk also faces its largest group of enterprise agreement renewals in fiscal 2027, concentrated in the fourth quarter, and management said its forecast reflects that.
To earn its higher price, Autodesk needs to keep growing close to PTC’s pace while its margin keeps rising. Autodesk’s growth has stayed close to PTC’s and its margin has climbed, but management’s own reported margin forecast for fiscal 2027 has come down. That 26% midpoint falls below the 27.9% margin from the last twelve months. Management’s revenue forecast, about 15% above fiscal 2026, also trails the 17.9% growth of the latest four quarters. Autodesk is expected to report its fiscal third quarter in November 2026, and its operating margin is the measure to watch.
Does This Mean You Should Act On ADSK?
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