ADSK — software quality at a 15× forward P/E

For the June 26, 8:29 a.m. to June 28, 8:00 a.m. ET screen, Autodesk (NASDAQ: ADSK) is the featured pick. Autodesk, Inc. is a design-software company best known for AutoCAD, Revit, Fusion, and other tools used in architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, and media production. The stock closed at $196.26 on June 26, 2026, with a $41.44B market cap, 48.11% TTM ROE, $2.73B TTM free cash flow, and a 15.23× forward P/E. 123

The screen result is unusually clean. ADSK clears the channel's three hard gates with room to spare: ROE has stayed above 15% in each of the last three completed fiscal years, free cash flow has been positive every year in the review period, and the stock trades at a discount to its own historical P/E while also carrying a forward P/E near the peer low and the lowest PEG in the engineering-software peer set reviewed for this issue. 123

The reason the stock is available is not hard to find. ADSK was only 5.8% above its 52-week low and 40.4% below its 52-week high at the June 26 close, while investors were still weighing AI disruption fears and Autodesk's pending $3.6B MaintainX acquisition. 45 That drawdown is also what makes the insider signal stand out: four insiders bought about $2.17M of stock from May 29 to June 23, 2026. 4

Autodesk's fiscal year ends on January 31. In this article, FY2026 means the fiscal year ended January 31, 2026, and TTM refers to the period ended April 30, 2026.

The ROE gate is not borderline. Autodesk's average-equity ROE fell from 60.40% in FY2024 to 39.68% in FY2026, but every figure remains far above the 15% hurdle. 2 The TTM figure of 48.11% shows that the drop in FY2026 did not continue into the latest trailing period. 2

The cash-flow record also clears the test. Free cash flow rose from $1.28B in FY2024 to $2.41B in FY2026, and TTM FCF reached $2.73B. 3 Using the cited $41.44B market cap and $2.73B TTM FCF, the FCF yield is about 6.59%. 13

Valuation is where ADSK becomes more interesting. The current trailing P/E of 28.67× is 57.6% below the five-year average P/E of 67.63×, and it is 49.4% below the four-year average of 56.67× that excludes the FY2022 outlier. 2 The forward P/E of 15.23× and PEG of 0.76 imply that the market is pricing Autodesk more like a challenged software name than a company still growing revenue at a double-digit rate. 1

Autodesk sells software for the people who design buildings, products, infrastructure, factories, and visual effects. Its Architecture, Engineering, and Construction segment generated $3.58B in FY2026 revenue, equal to about 50% of total revenue; AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT contributed $1.79B, Manufacturing contributed $1.38B, and Media & Entertainment contributed $332M. 6

In plain language, the business is built on workflow dependence. Architects and engineers learn Autodesk tools, firms build project archives around Autodesk file formats, and multi-year construction or manufacturing projects are expensive to move to another platform midstream. KoalaGains describes the AEC moat as based on severe switching costs, including user training, project complexity, standardized file formats such as .DWG, and a broad third-party developer ecosystem. 6

The subscription base makes the numbers easier to underwrite. Autodesk had 8.31M subscriptions in FY2026, and recurring revenue was 97.4% of total revenue, or $7.02B of $7.21B. 6 Remaining performance obligations were $8.30B, which gives investors a contracted-revenue backlog to compare against annual revenue. 6

That moat is not immune to pressure. Open-source tools such as Blender are a long-term threat in media and entertainment, and manufacturing software has entrenched competitors including Dassault Systèmes, Siemens, and PTC. 6 The stronger claim is narrower: Autodesk's core AEC and design workflows are hard to displace quickly, especially when the customer's files, staff training, and project handoffs already sit inside the Autodesk ecosystem.

Autodesk's revenue grew from $3.79B in FY2021 to $7.21B in FY2026, and TTM revenue reached $7.51B. 7 Revenue growth was 17.5% in FY2026 and 18.3% on a TTM basis, which is the operating-growth side of the valuation argument. 7

Net income is less linear but still positive. Autodesk earned $906M in FY2024, $1.11B in FY2025, $1.12B in FY2026, and $1.46B TTM. 7 FY2026 net-income growth was only 1.1%, while TTM net income grew 44.6% as the tax-rate and restructuring headwinds eased in the latest period. 7

Margins support the quality screen. Operating margin improved from 14.1% in FY2022 to 21.9% in FY2026 and 25.1% TTM. 7 Net margin was 15.6% in FY2026 and 19.5% TTM. 7

The balance sheet is better than the software drawdown might suggest. Autodesk had $2.92B in cash and short-term investments, $2.72B in total debt and lease liabilities, and a net cash position of about $200M at the latest balance-sheet date. 8 The D/E ratio was 0.85, the current ratio was 0.83, and estimated interest coverage was about 23.6× using TTM operating income against interest expense. 18

The weak balance-sheet line is tangible book value. Autodesk's tangible book value was -$1.60B, reflecting goodwill, intangibles, and years of buybacks rather than a large hard-asset base. 8 That is common for software companies, but it matters if investors want asset-value downside protection.

Autodesk is not the cheapest stock on every metric. PTC had a lower trailing P/E and lower EV/EBITDA in the peer set. 9 Autodesk's edge is the combination of high ROE, low forward P/E, and low PEG.

The peer table gives the valuation gate a clear basis. ADSK has the lowest PEG in the group and a forward P/E close to the group low, while its ROE is higher than the other comparable names shown. 19101112

ADSK traded at $196.26 on June 26, 2026, close to its $185.50 52-week low and far below its $329.09 52-week high. 4 The trailing 52-week return was about -35%, the YTD return was -33.7%, and the 14-day RSI was 36.90. 14

The largest near-term event is MaintainX. Autodesk announced a definitive agreement to acquire MaintainX for about $3.6B in cash, which Verdantix described as a move that extends Autodesk from design and make workflows into operations and maintenance. 5 MaintainX had more than $135M in annual recurring revenue and was growing above 50%, according to the research package's cited deal analysis. 5

That deal is both catalyst and risk. It could move Autodesk closer to a closed-loop lifecycle platform that connects design data with operating assets. 5 It also creates near-term margin and integration uncertainty, and Seeking Alpha's Value Sights downgraded ADSK to Hold on that concern. 13

The insider signal cuts in the other direction. CEO Andrew Anagnost bought 2,460 shares at $202.66 on June 16, CFO Janesh Moorjani bought 2,500 shares at $197.67 on June 15, director John Cahill bought 2,000 shares at $189.20 on June 23, and director Stacy Smith bought 3,435 shares at $231.17 on May 29. 4 The combined purchases were about $2.17M across four insiders over a 25-day window. 4

Insider buying does not settle the investment case, but this pattern is stronger than a token purchase. It came near the low end of the 52-week range and after the market had already reacted to the MaintainX announcement. 4

1. MaintainX integration. The trigger is whether Autodesk can preserve FY2027 margin expectations while absorbing a $3.6B all-cash acquisition. 5 A warning sign would be management lowering margin guidance or pushing out the path for MaintainX to become growth- or margin-accretive.

2. AI disruption. Autodesk has argued through product moves that AI can reinforce its workflow position, including a June 3, 2026 strategic collaboration with AWS that will make Fusion for Product Design and Fusion Manage available through AWS Marketplace starting in Q2 FY2027. 14 The risk trigger is evidence that generative AI tools reduce demand for traditional CAD, BIM, or design-seat subscriptions rather than increasing product usage.

3. Rising short interest. Short interest was 7.47M shares, or 3.54% of outstanding shares, up from 6.53M shares in the prior month. 1 That is not high enough to define the thesis, but another monthly rise paired with a break below the $185.50 52-week low would make the market's concern harder to dismiss. 4

4. Legal and governance overhang. A federal court dismissed the Barkasi v. Autodesk securities-fraud claims with prejudice on January 26, 2026, but plaintiffs filed an appeal on March 12, 2026. 1516 The trigger is not the existence of the appeal alone; it is any development that revives internal-control questions around free cash flow or non-GAAP margin practices.

5. Workforce execution. Autodesk announced about 1,000 job cuts, or 7% of its workforce, in January 2026 while shifting spending toward cloud and AI. 17 The trigger is whether product velocity or customer support metrics weaken after the restructuring.

Analyst sentiment is supportive but not enough on its own. StockAnalysis showed a Strong Buy consensus from 34 analysts, with an average price target of $318.53, or about 62% above the June 26 close. 1 Finviz showed a similar average target of $322.41 and a consensus score of 1.31, where 1.0 represents Strong Buy. 4

The more useful catalysts are operating checkpoints. The next earnings update should be read for four items: revenue growth staying in the mid-to-high teens, non-GAAP margin guidance after the MaintainX announcement, whether free cash flow still tracks above $2.4B on an annualized basis, and whether management keeps buying back stock while insiders have recently bought personally. 345

The bottom line: ADSK is a clean daily-screen pass and one of the stronger software picks the channel has surfaced. The quality case rests on 48.11% TTM ROE, $2.73B TTM FCF, and a recurring-revenue model with high switching costs. 236 The open question is whether the market is correctly pricing a structural software reset or over-penalizing a business that still has high returns, growing FCF, and a newly visible insider-buying signal.