Business

Autodesk Q1 2020 earnings “a strong start” for year ahead with $735M headline revenue

Award winning 3D software developer Autodesk has announced financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2020. Total revenue for the company increased 31% to $735 million compared to the same period in FY 2019 which was reported at $559.9 million. On a constant currency basis, the increase was 30%.

As a performance metric, the company’s Annualized Recurring Revenue (ARR), encompassing both Maintenance and Subscription plans was also considered throughout the report. Compared to the same period in FY 2019 ARR for Q1 FY 2020 increased 33% to $2.83 billion. Free cash flow for the period was $207 million, with cash flow from all operating activities at $221 million. Billings were reported at $798 million.

Though revenue was at the low end of the company’s guidance range Autodesk president and CEO Andrew Anagnost remained pleased with the results. In an earnings call with analysts he said that the company was “off to a strong start in fiscal 2020 with billings and free cash flow coming in at or above expectations and great momentum across the entire business.”

Autodesk Q1 2020 by region

Geographically, the Americas are Autodesk’s strongest region for total net revenue. For the three months ended April 30, 2019, net revenue for the Americas was reported at $295.8 million, with the U.S. contributing $249.1 million net revenue and Other Americas the remaining $46.7 millions. In terms of growth however, EMEA and APAC are tied for the company’s strongest areas. In Q1 2020, both regions reported a 35% increase in net revenue compared to the same period in 2019. For Q1 2020 EMEA had a net revenue of $297.2 million. Respectively the APAC region had a net revenue of $142.5 million in Q1 2020.

Of the total ARR for the period, Subscription plan ARR was reported at $2.38 billion, an increase of 70% year on year. Maintenance plan ARR for Q1 2020 was reported at $112 billion, decreasing 38% compared to ARR in Q1 2019.

Revenue Q1 2020 Q1 2019 Variance $ millions %
Subscription 595.80 350.40 245 70.03%
Maintenance 112.00 181.20 -69 -38.19%
Other 27.70 28.30 -1 -2.12%
Total 735.50 559.90 176 31.36%

Fusion is still “on fire” and generative design is not just for 3D printing

On the full year Q4 2019 earnings call, Anagnost commented that Autodesk’s Fusion 360 program, which won Software Tool of the Year in 2017, was “really on fire” it terms of growth. When considering Q1 2020, this again appears to be the case as Fusion 360 grew a record 43% in ARR. In addition Anagnost said “Our investments in generative design and Fusion 360 have resulted in more than 100% year-over-year growth in monthly active users for our commercial customers,”

“Users love the cloud-based, comprehensive solution of Fusion 360 and it is disrupting the industry.”

It was also made clear that generative design would be a key development area for the company going forward. On the call Anagnost addressed user’s beliefs that that generative design is just for 3D printing.  “I want to make sure that people understand this,” he commented, “because people thought, well, these are really advanced things, isn’t just like 3D printing focused.” Stressing this is not the case, the CEO continued, “The biggest usage right now that we’re seeing with regards to generative design is people exploring new types of design options for things that they either had existing or they are building from scratch […]”

“[…] they’re essentially using generative design as a tool to show them new solutions to problems that they wouldn’t have naturally found in the first place.”

With recent aPriori addons to Fusion 360 generative design capabilities have now been provided for 2.5 and 5 axis milling, as well as 2-axis cutting.

Different permutations of a design in Generative Design technology. Screengrab via Autodesk.
Different permutations of a design in Generative Design technology. Screengrab via Autodesk.

Autodesk guidance for FY 2020

In addition to Q1 2020 earnings, Autodesk has also provided full year guidance for FY 2020. Total ARR for the full year is currently expected to reach within the region of $3.50 – $3.55 billion, an increase of between 27 and 29% compared to FY 2019. Billings for FY 2020 are expected within the range of $4 and $4.1 billion. Revenue guidance was set to between $3.25 and $3.3 billion. And free cash flow guidance was reported at approximately $1.35 billion.

Autodesk’s full financial results for Q1 2020 can be accessed online here.

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Featured image shows Olsryd 9 Cylinder Radial Engin Designed in Fusion 360 by Daniele Grandi, Casey Rogers and Carlos Oyuela-Mora Image via Autodesk Fusion360 Gallery