Overseas Growth & Upgrades Spur Profits

Article Excerpt

AUTODESK INC. $37 (Nasdaq symbol ADSK; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 224.0 million; Market cap: $8.3 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) continues to profit from strong international demand (66% of total revenue) for its software products, which engineers and architects use to design machinery, buildings and so on. The company is also doing a good job getting its customers to upgrade from its traditional 2D software to 3D, which speeds up the design process. In its second fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2008, earnings before unusual items rose 20.2%, to $130.3 million from $108.4 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 27.3%, to $0.56 from $0.44, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue grew 17.8%, to $619.5 million from $525.9 million. Autodesk now trades at just 16.3 times this year’s forecast earnings of $2.27 a share. That’s reasonable in light of its growth prospects, and its high research spending (25% of revenue). Autodesk is a buy. buy…