Summary
Autodesk closed fiscal 2021 with a stronger fourth quarter. Revenue for the quarter ended January 31, 2021 rose 15.6% to $1.04 billion. Full-year revenue rose 15.8% to $3.79 billion. Gross profit for the quarter was $948.6 million, up 16.2%, and gross margin was 91.3%, up 0.5 percentage points. Operating income was $184.4 million, up 37.8%, and operating margin was 17.7%, up 2.9 percentage points. Net income jumped 591.4% to $911.3 million, and diluted EPS was $4.10, up 594.9%. The profit figures include a $679 million deferred tax asset valuation allowance release. For the full year, net income was $1.21 billion, up 463.3%, and diluted EPS was $5.44, up 466.7%.
Operational metrics point to a resilient subscription model. RPO rose 17.8% to $4.24 billion. Current deferred revenue rose 14.9% to $2.50 billion. Recurring revenue represented 94% of total revenue in the quarter. Net revenue retention rate was within the range of 100% to 110%. Total subscriptions increased approximately 404,000 from fiscal 2020 to 5.27 million at the end of fiscal 2021. Subscription plan subscriptions increased 679,000 from the end of fiscal 2020 to 5.15 million. Billings decreased 1% to $1.47 billion. Management attributed the quarter's growth to record enterprise business agreements, strong subscription renewal rates, accelerating digital sales, and continued sequential growth in new business. Usage levels in most of Asia Pacific and Continental Europe were above pre-COVID-19 levels, while usage in the United States and the United Kingdom remained below pre-COVID-19 levels.
Cash flow and capital spending require attention. Operating cash flow for the quarter was $657.6 million, down 5.8%. Full-year operating cash flow was $1.44 billion, up 1.6%. Capital expenditures for the quarter were $23.5 million, up 67.9%, and full-year capital expenditures were $91.1 million, up 71.2%. Free cash flow for the quarter was $634 million, a decrease of $50 million compared with the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020. Full-year free cash flow decreased to $1.35 billion from $1.36 billion. At January 31, 2021, Autodesk held $1.86 billion in cash and marketable securities. The company repurchased 2.6 million shares for $549.4 million during fiscal 2021. The company also announced leadership changes: Debbie Clifford as chief financial officer effective March 8, 2021, and Raji Arasu as chief technology officer effective April 19, 2021.
Guidance for the first quarter of fiscal 2022 calls for non-GAAP EPS of $0.91 to $0.96. Full-year fiscal 2022 guidance calls for billings of $4.85 billion to $4.975 billion, up 17% to 20%, non-GAAP operating margin of 31% to 32%, non-GAAP EPS of $4.78 to $5.08, and free cash flow of $1.575 billion to $1.650 billion. Guidance excludes the impact of the pending Innovyze acquisition. Excluding an approximately $70 million foreign currency impact, billings guidance would be $4.78 billion to $4.905 billion. The outlook assumes a projected annual effective tax rate of 16% for non-GAAP results.
Risks remain. The company cited COVID-19 pandemic effects, foreign exchange rate fluctuations, reliance on major distributors, and integration challenges from acquisitions. Tech Data accounted for 37% of total net revenue in fiscal 2021, and Ingram Micro accounted for 10%. Autodesk also flagged weak or negative growth in the industries it serves, pricing pressure, and unexpected fluctuations in its annual effective tax rate. The pending acquisition of Innovyze for approximately $1.0 billion introduces execution and integration risk. The company expects to fund the acquisition with readily available cash. Autodesk's fiscal 2023 targets and double-digit growth thereafter depend on continued enterprise and cloud-based sales, and the maintenance plan retirement in May 2021 could affect renewal dynamics.
Forecast
Reported figures
GAAP, from SEC filings| Metric | Q4 FY2021 | Q3 FY2021 | QoQ | Q4 FY2020 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.04B | $952.4M | +9.1% | $899.3M | +15.6% |
| Gross profit | $948.6M | $868.7M | +9.2% | $816.1M | +16.2% |
| Gross margin | 91.3% | 91.2% | +0.1 pp | 90.8% | +0.5 pp |
| Research & development | $249.6M | $233.0M | +7.1% | $217.1M | +15.0% |
| Sales & marketing | $388.8M | $359.3M | +8.2% | $349.5M | +11.2% |
| General & administrative | $117.1M | $98.8M | +18.5% | $106.0M | +10.5% |
| Total operating expenses | $764.2M | $700.7M | +9.1% | $682.3M | +12.0% |
| Operating income (loss) | $184.4M | $168.0M | +9.8% | $133.8M | +37.8% |
| Operating margin | 17.7% | 17.6% | +0.1 pp | 14.9% | +2.9 pp |
| Net income (loss) | $911.3M | $132.2M | +589.3% | $131.8M | +591.4% |
| Net margin | 87.7% | 13.9% | +73.8 pp | 14.7% | +73.0 pp |
| Diluted EPS | $4.10 | $0.59 | +$3.51 | $0.59 | +$3.51 |
Risks
COVID-19 continues to affect how Autodesk and its customers operate, with usage levels above pre-COVID-19 levels in most of Asia Pacific and Continental Europe but below pre-COVID-19 levels in the United States and the United Kingdom in the fourth fiscal quarter ended January 31, 2021. Autodesk took customer-support actions including extending payment terms to 60 days through August 7, 2020 and delaying the multi-user to named-user transition, and says the extent of the pandemic's impact on fiscal 2022 and beyond remains uncertain.
Autodesk identified a compromised SolarWinds server in December 2020 and took steps to contain the incident; while it believes no customer operations or Autodesk products were disrupted, the filing says similar attacks could have a significant negative impact on systems and operations.
Tech Data accounted for 37% of total net revenue in fiscal 2021 and 35% in fiscal 2020, while Ingram Micro accounted for 10% in both fiscal 2021 and 2020; the June 2020 acquisition of Tech Data and the announced agreement to acquire Ingram Micro could create reseller or end-user uncertainty and at least temporarily negatively impact Autodesk's ability to sell through them.
Net revenue retention rate was within the range of 100% and 110% as of January 31, 2021, and within the range of 110% and 120% as of January 31, 2020. The filing says renewal rates may decline or fluctuate due to pricing, competitive offerings, customer satisfaction, and reduced customer spending levels.
Autodesk made several fiscal 2021 acquisitions, including Spacemaker and providers of artificial intelligence and machine learning data extraction and manufacturing simulation solutions, and announced a pending acquisition of Innovyze for approximately $1.0 billion. The filing warns that integration, due diligence, retention, and synergy risks could negatively impact margins and financial results.
Autodesk is increasingly building artificial intelligence into offerings, including through fiscal 2021 acquisitions such as Spacemaker, and the filing warns that AI ethical issues, reputational harm, competitive harm, legal liability, or new AI ethics regulation could slow adoption and increase research and development costs.
International net revenue represented 66% of net revenue in both fiscal 2021 and 2020, exposing Autodesk to Brexit and TCA-related tax, tax treaty, banking, operational, legal, and regulatory impacts, as well as tariffs, trade sanctions, and other protectionist measures that could increase costs or disrupt business.
Maintenance revenue decreased 53% in fiscal 2021 compared with the prior fiscal year as customers migrated to subscription plans under M2S, and Autodesk will retire maintenance plan offerings as of May 7, 2021. The filing expects maintenance revenue to continue to decline, with the rate depending on renewals and conversion success.
Combined revenue from AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT family products, excluding collections that include them, represented 29% of total net revenue in both fiscal 2021 and 2020, so any factor adversely affecting sales of these subscriptions would likely harm financial results.
Income tax benefit was $661.5 million for fiscal 2021, consisting primarily of the U.S. valuation allowance release, and the filing says future adjustments to the realizability of deferred tax assets, including continued full valuation allowances against certain U.S. and foreign deferred tax assets, could materially affect results.
SaaS KPIs
All quarters →Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO)
Current Remaining Performance Obligations (cRPO)
Net Revenue Retention (NR3)
Summary, forecast, risks and KPIs are extracted from Autodesk, Inc.'s SEC filings for Q4 FY2021 (10-Q / 10-K and the 8-K earnings release); GAAP figures in the summary are checked against the reported XBRL data. They can contain errors; the filings are authoritative. Processed Oct 2, 2026.