Podcast: Why is Autodesk Up in a Down Economy?

By Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg
August 19, 2008

Classified Ads:

If you are still wondering which mobile GPS you should buy for your GIS data collection and mapping projects: Download our white paper to see how our MobileMapper 6 GPS beats the competition with better accuracy and lower price. Visit Magellan Professional

Our editors ponder Autodesk's quarterly expectation-beating revenues. The company reported solid growth around the world even as gas and food costs remain high. Just what is the company doing right and what can we extrapolate to geospatial companies in particular? Also, a look at Autodesk's recent acquisition of 3D, standards focused company in Germany.

Show notes:

Conference Call Replay (From Autodesk website; registration required)
Autodesk Reports Record Revenue of $620 Million in its Second Quarter of Fiscal 2009 (press release)
ADSK Q2: Up 18% (World CAD Access blog)
Autodesk Geospatial Acquires 3D Geo GmbH - All Points Blog (All Points Blog)
Contest Winner for "Help Us Cover ESRI UC" Announced

Your Comments
Post a comment

All comments provided in this section are those of the individual who has created the post. These are not the opinions of Directions Media, its editors, staff or owners unless otherwise noted. Directions Media retains the right to edit or delete any comments posted herein.

Mapguide Enterprise powers AutoCAD Map sales (#1) by Roger Chandler, Keynetix
Date: August 19, 2008 19:59 PM

Firstly let me say thanks for a great Podcast!

One thing I would like to add is that we have seen a big increase in the number of companies who are looking to implement the mapguide enterprise solution. Once clients have implemented this solution they really start to see the benefits of AutoCAD MAP over ordinary AutoCAD. This is having a big impact on the number of users that can make cost effective use of AutoCAD MAP.

Keep up the good work.

Roger Chandler (http://www.keynetix.com)
Keynetix is an AutoDesk Systems center in the UK

Up/Down (#2) by Archie Belaney, Grey Owl Analytics
Date: August 20, 2008 02:59 AM

Probably has more to do with the lag since the last major rev of their software. Would this be the equivalent of an even-number release year for Autocad? I think yes.

ADSK has traditionally released revisions every 18 +/- months...but their user base tends to buy every 36 +/- months (or every other ADSK product cycle). They've compressed this with more products, but the cycles are still there.

Chart their stock on NASDAQ.com and you'll see their revenue story is cyclical...including the rebound after their traditional end-of-fiscal-year ramp-up.

Some might say that ramp-up is accounted for by end-of-year specials and 'stuffing the channel' rather than organic growth...

Bottom line is ADSK has manufactured a revenue-generation machine by building great market share, an ironclad channel, and timing their rev cycles more closely to their customers.

They also tend to ship products on time, as opposed to (ahem) another well-known company in the geospatial trades with gorilla market share.

	In-person events
	Online events