Autodesk Shares Tumble On Weak Forecast

Shares of

dipped 8 percent in after-hours trading, despite the company reporting better-than-expected earnings for the second quarter. The company's weak forecast exerted pressure on the shares. The San Rafael, California-based company posted quarterly loss of $235.5 million, or $1.04 per share, compared to earnings of $31.3 million, or $0.13 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Excluding one-time items, Autodesk's earnings slipped to $0.19 per share from $0.35 per share. Its revenue slipped 4 percent year-over-year to $610 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.17 per share on revenue of $612 million. The average estimate among 14 Estimize users was for earnings of $0.19 per share and revenue of $618.28 million. Its revenue in the Americas rose 6 percent year-over-year to to $236 million, while EMEA revenue dropped 7 percent to $226 million in the latest quarter. Revenue in APAC dropped 13 percent to $148 million, while revenue from emerging economies shrank 7 percent to $92 million. Revenue from the Architecture, Engineering and Construction business segment rose 7 percent to $233 million in the recent quarter, while revenue from the Platform Solutions and Emerging Business segment declined 21 percent to $164 million. Revenue from the Manufacturing business segment gained 2 percent year-over-year to $171 million, while revenue from the Media and Entertainment business segment slipped 6 percent to $41 million. Total billings rose 7 percent year-over-year in the quarter. Its operating margin shrank to 1 percent, from 8 percent. Deferred revenue rose 26 percent to $1.2 billion from $981 million. At the end of the second quarter, total subscriptions were 2.39 million. "We are pleased with the progress of our business model transition," said Carl Bass, Autodesk president and CEO. "Strong billings and deferred revenue growth led the quarter and we continue to see customers adopt our new model subscription offerings, which are showing strong year-over-year and sequential growth. For the past two years we've been preparing for this transition and we're now ready to accelerate the process." Autodesk expects Q3 adjusted earnings of $0.05 to $0.10 per share, on sales of $580 million to $600 million. Analysts projected earnings of $0.24 per share on revenue of $630 million. Autodesk projects FY16 adjusted earnings of $0.60 to $0.70 per share on sales of $2.465 billion to $2.505 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $1.04 per share on revenue of $2.59 billion. The company also announced its plans to acquire SeeControl. Autodesk shares fell 8 percent to $46.00 in the after-hours trading session.