Autodesk grew fiscal 2026 revenue 18% to $7.21B and free cash flow 54% to $2.41B, but restructuring charges and a jump in its tax rate held net income to $1.12B (+1%) and diluted EPS to $5.23.
Revenue
$7.2B
+17.5% YoY
Net income
$1.1B
+1.1% YoY
Diluted EPS
$5.23
+2.1% YoY
Operating margin
21.9%
Overview
Autodesk sells design and engineering software, including AutoCAD, Revit, Inventor, Fusion and its construction-management cloud, almost entirely as subscriptions. In fiscal 2026 (the year ended January 31, 2026) revenue rose 18% to $7.21 billion. Currency had no net effect. The 10-K attributes the growth "primarily" to subscription revenue from "growth in subscriptions from our existing customer base."
Reported profit barely moved, though. Net income rose 1% to $1.124 billion and diluted EPS rose 2% to $5.23. Three things came between the revenue growth and the bottom line:
$216 million of restructuring charges, up from $15 million. There were two layoff programs, the second cutting about 7% of the workforce (roughly 1,000 people).
A much higher tax bill. Income tax rose to $479 million from $272 million, taking the effective tax rate (tax as a share of pre-tax profit) from 19.7% to 29.9%.
An accounting shift from the new "transaction model" that moves reseller commissions out of revenue and into sales expense (explained below).
Cash generation tells a different story. Operating cash flow rose 53% to $2.45 billion, and free cash flow (operating cash flow minus capital spending) rose 54% to $2.41 billion.
Key figures
Metric
FY2026
FY2025
YoY Change
Net revenue
$7,206M
$6,131M
+17.5%
Subscription revenue
$6,743M
$5,717M
+18%
Gross margin
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Gross margin, operating margin and the FY2025 free-cash-flow figure are calculated from the 10-K's income and cash-flow statements (FY2025 capital spending was $40M). Billings and non-GAAP EPS come from the company's fiscal Q4 2026 earnings release, which gives only the growth rate for billings.
A few terms used here:
Billings is what Autodesk invoiced during the year: revenue plus the change in deferred revenue, which is cash billed but not yet earned.
RPO is the total value of signed contracts not yet recognised as revenue, whether billed or not. Current RPO is the part expected to turn into revenue within 12 months.
Recurring revenue is revenue from subscriptions and maintenance plans. At 97% of the total, almost none of Autodesk's sales are one-off.
What drove revenue
By product family (FY2026):
Product family
Revenue
YoY
10-K explanation
AECO (architecture, engineering, construction & operations)
$3,583M
+22%
AEC Collections, enterprise agreements (EBAs) and the construction cloud (now Forma for Construction)
AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT
$1,787M
+14%
Growth in both AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT
MFG (manufacturing)
$1,379M
+16%
MFG Collections, Fusion and Inventor
M&E (media & entertainment)
$332M
+5%
Lower contra revenue from the new transaction model, and EBAs
Other
$125M
+6%
n/a
AECO, Autodesk's largest family, grew fastest and now makes up about half of revenue. In the fourth quarter alone AECO grew 22%, and the CFO pointed to "outperformance in AECO, particularly in construction and emerging markets." The cloud-first Make business (Fusion, Autodesk Build and similar) grew 22% to $796M. The larger Design business grew 17% to $5,980M.
By region: Americas $3,178M (+17%), EMEA $2,794M (+21%) and APAC $1,234M (+11%, or +14% in constant currency, meaning at last year's exchange rates). APAC was the only region where currency visibly held back reported growth.
The new transaction model, and why it muddies the growth rate
The biggest change in how Autodesk reports its numbers is that it now sells directly to the end customer in most markets. Resellers, now called "Solution Providers", quote the deal, but the contract and the invoice run between Autodesk and the customer. Revenue from direct sales rose to 63% of the total, from 42%. Revenue through Autodesk's largest distributor, TD Synnex, fell to 14% from 33%.
This changes the accounting in two ways:
Reseller commissions used to be deducted from revenue as "contra revenue". Now they are booked as a marketing and sales expense. That inflates reported revenue growth without changing the underlying economics. The 10-K cites this directly for the M&E growth, and for part of the 19% rise in marketing and sales expense (to $2,373M), which it attributes "primarily" to "sales commissions to Solution Providers" now recognised under the new transaction model.
For fiscal 2027, management expects the switch to "positively impact calculated revenue growth, while being broadly neutral to calculated operating profit and free cash flow dollars, and to result in a calculated negative impact to operating margin."
In plain terms, part of the 18% revenue growth and part of the 19% growth in sales costs are the same money moved to a different line. The 10-K does not put an exact figure on the revenue effect for fiscal 2026. The net retention rate (NR3), which compares this year's recurring revenue from existing customers with last year's, was "above the range of 100% and 110%" on a constant-currency basis. The company says that was "in part due to our new transaction model."
Margins: restructuring hides an underlying improvement
GAAP operating margin (the share of revenue left after running the business, before interest and tax) slipped to 21.9% from 22.1%. The restructuring line explains all of that and more. Excluding the $216M of charges (our calculation, not a company figure), operating income would have been $1,794M, a 24.9% margin, against about 22.3% on the same basis a year earlier. That improvement came even though the transaction-model reclassification pushed commissions into expenses:
Research and development rose 11% to $1,643M on headcount, merit increases and higher cloud-hosting costs.
General and administrative rose 7% to $693M, partly from contributions to the Autodesk Foundation.
Gross margin edged up to 91.0%.
Management's non-GAAP operating margin, which excludes stock compensation, amortisation and restructuring, was 38%, up 2 points.
Restructuring should shrink from here. The first plan is "substantially complete." The second (the "January 2026 Plan", the final phase of the sales and marketing optimisation program) is expected to cost $135–160M in total, of which $100M was already accrued by January 31, 2026. It should be finished by the end of fiscal 2027.
Why net income barely grew
Pre-tax income rose 16% to $1,603M, but tax expense jumped 76%. The 10-K attributes this to a smaller US tax benefit on foreign-derived income (FDDEI) and higher tax on foreign subsidiaries' income (NCTI). Two changes caused both: a US election to align the timing of revenue taxation with GAAP revenue recognition, and the switch to full expensing of US R&D costs under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). This is mostly a timing and tax-law effect, not a sign of weaker operations. The fiscal 2027 10-Q below shows the tax charge already coming back down.
Cash, bookings and capital returns
Billings rose 30% to $7,771M, far faster than revenue, as customers moved further to annual billing and enterprise deals (EBAs) closed in the fourth quarter. Fourth-quarter billings alone were $2,804M, up 33%.
RPO grew 20% to $8.30B, and current RPO grew 23%. These are signed contracts, not forecasts, which gives good visibility into fiscal 2027 revenue.
Free cash flow of $2.41B was 33% of revenue. Autodesk spent $1.40B buying back 5 million shares, against $858M a year earlier, which cut the diluted share count to 215M from 217M. It ended the year with $2.97B in cash and marketable securities.
Takeaway: Autodesk's 1% net income growth understates the year. Revenue grew 18%, billings 30% and free cash flow 54%. Profit was held back by $216M of layoff costs and a tax rate that jumped 10 points because of US tax elections and law changes, not by weaker demand. Investors should remember that the shift to direct selling now inflates revenue growth and deflates reported margins, so compare the growth rate with operating profit dollars and cash flow, which the company says the shift leaves broadly unchanged.
Outlook
Management's fiscal 2027 guidance (from the February 26, 2026 earnings release): revenue of $8,100–8,170M, about 12–13% growth; billings of $8,480–8,580M; GAAP operating margin of 26–28%; non-GAAP operating margin of 38.5–39%; GAAP EPS of $7.76–8.39; and free cash flow of $2.7–2.8B. The CFO said the guidance includes "prudence to reflect temporary risk to billings and revenue as we operationalize our sales optimization plan."
Latest quarter already filed — fiscal Q2 2027 (three months ended July 31, 2026; Form 10-Q filed August 28, 2026):
Revenue: $2,046M, up 16% from $1,763M.
Operating income: $599M, up from $444M. Operating margin rose to 29.3% from 25.2%, and restructuring was a $1M credit against a $6M charge a year earlier.
Net income: $492M, up from $313M, with the tax charge down to $101M from $143M. Diluted EPS was $2.33, against $1.46.
First half: revenue $3,980M (+17%), operating cash flow $1.47B (against $1.02B) and $901M of buybacks.
NR3 was at about the top end of the 100–110% range. RPO was $7.43B, down 10% from January 31, and current RPO was $5.24B, down 4%. These comparisons are against the seasonally strong fiscal year-end, when enterprise deals cluster, not against a year earlier.
Our view: The first half of fiscal 2027 is running ahead of the full-year revenue guidance, with growth of about 16–17% against roughly 12–13% guided. GAAP margins are recovering as restructuring costs and the one-off tax effects fade. The main uncertainties are how much of the headline growth is still the transaction-model reclassification, and whether billings hold up as the last phase of the sales reorganisation plays out. The fiscal Q3 2027 report, expected around late November 2026, will be the next check on both.