(By Mayur Pahilajani - iStockAnalyst Writer)
New York, NY - Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) may have a chance to impress investors with its fourth quarter results, which is set to release after market close, as most of the analysts have the company on “Hold” rating.
Six of the 20 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg have the company on “Buy” rating and two recommended selling the stock. The company was in the spotlight after Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ GS: YHOO) appointed Carol Bartz, the former chief executive officer of Autodesk, to replace ex-CEO Jerry Yang.
The design software giant has a market size of around half of Yahoo’s and has around 7,000 employees across the world as of last year. However, the market stock value of the company has declined over the last few years, as it struggles under the pressure of current economic slowdown and tightened business clients’ budgets.
But some of the market analysts believe that it may survive it as the company has experienced several economic downturns during its 26-year history. Autodesk reported $2.2 billion in revenue in its fiscal year ended January 31, 2008; while, Yahoo posted revenue of $6.97 billion in its fiscal year ending December 2007.
The San Rafael, California-based company is expected to post earnings of 21 cents a share on average basis, excluding special items, on revenues of $484.45 million for the quarter. In the year-earlier period, it had posted a net profit of $96.5 million or 40 cents per share on revenues of $599.1 million.
Last month, however, the company said it will record loss of 5 cents to 12 cents a share on revenue of $475 million to $500 million. Excluding charges, profit could be between 18 cents to 24 cents a share.
"Global economic conditions continue to impact our end-user demand," President and Chief Executive Officer Carl Bass said in a statement on Jan. 15. "Given the current uncertainty of the economic environment, the cost savings initiatives we are implementing are prudent."
The company also decided to hand out pink slips to around 750 employees, as part of a restructuring plan that will result in annual pre-tax cost savings of around $130 million starting in fiscal 2010. The restructuring would cost the company a pre-tax charge in the range of $65 million to $75 million. About $45 million to $50 million in pre-tax charges will be taken in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009. Most of the remaining charge will be taken in the first quarter of fiscal 2010.
To expand its portfolio, the maker of AutoCAD acquired Pittsburgh-based Algor, Inc., a leading supplier of analysis and simulation software for around $34 million. Algor is expected to improve Autodesk’s digital prototyping solutions with simulation functions, including multiphysics, mechanical event simulation (MES) and fluid flow.
Shares of Autodesk were down by 3 cents or 0.21 percent to $14.27 in pre-market NASDAQ trading, after hitting a 52-week low of $12.45 on Nov. 21. The stock of the company has traded as high as $41.68 in the last year with 4.30 million in average volume and a P/E ratio of 8.67.
Source: http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/2955759
