Based on the aggregated intelligence of 130,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, design and engineering software maker Autodesk (Nasdaq: ADSK ) has earned a respected four-star ranking.
With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Autodesk's business, and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.
Autodesk facts
|
Headquarters (founded)
|
San Rafael, California (1982)
|
|
Market Cap
|
$4.17 billion
|
|
Industry
|
Application Software
|
|
TTM Revenue
|
$2.32 billion
|
|
Management
|
President/CEO Carl Bass
Vice President/Chief Technology Officer Jeffrey Kowalski
|
|
Return on Equity (over last three years)
|
25%
|
|
Competitors
|
Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL )
Google (Nasdaq: GOOG )
Adobe Systems (Nasdaq: ADBE )
|
|
CAPS members bullish on ADSK also bullish on
|
General Electric (NYSE: GE )
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ )
|
|
CAPS members bearish on ADSK also bearish on
|
General Motors (NYSE: GM )
|
Sources: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's, and Motley Fool CAPS. TTM = trailing 12 months.
Over on CAPS, fully 694 of the 751 members who have rated Autodesk -- some 92% -- believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include 12Bknown and All-Star SapphireSeas.
In February, 12Bknown touched on the "switching costs" protecting the stock:
Solid company with a solid product. Their [Computer Aided Design] program is the favorite of most engineering and design companies. Once in use it is very difficult and costly to change to a different system. In this awful market, [Autodesk] is one of the few sure bets.
In a pitch from late January, SapphireSeas taps Autodesk as a rather nifty play on government spending:
President Obama is pledging massive recapitalization of infrastructure throughout the United States as part of his economic stimulus plan. While I am extremely leery of massive government spending plans, Computer Aided Design (CAD) companies like Autodesk are core to the civil engineering profession, and should be among the first corporates to benefit from any uptick in public works investment.
What do you think about Autodesk, or any other stock for that matter? Make your voice heard on Motley Fool CAPS today. More than 130,000 investors are waiting to hear what you have to say. CAPS is 100% free, so simply click here to get started.
RSS Headlines
Fool UK