Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) stock surged over 8.1% on November 21st pre market session (Source: Google finance). ADSK in the third quarter of FY 18 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of 29 cents, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of 27 cents. The company had reported the adjusted revenue of $660.9 million in the third quarter of FY 18, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $640.9 million. The company has generated 33% growth in total annualized recurring revenue, or ARR, with both product and cloud offerings delivering great performance. ARR benefited from a 17% increase in ARPS, a 14% increase in subscriptions, and a 30% growth in billings for the quarter. All geographic regions posted revenue growth of at least 25%. Subscription plan ARR has more than doubled on a year-over-year basis for seven out of the last eight quarters. Growth in ARR was driven by strength across all subscription plan types, and once again product subscription led the group while EBAs also accelerated meaningfully.
Moreover, ADSK has added 143,000 subs in the quarter and hit a milestone in total subscriptions as the company crossed the 4 million mark, which is nearly twice the number of maintenance seats the company had at the peak of the previous business model. Subscription plan subs grew by 252,000, led by product subscriptions. Core sub adds once again increased by 3% sequentially. The company has also added 53,000 cloud subs, which is a nice step-up from the 31,000 we added in Q2 and 18,000 in Q1.
For the fourth quarter, Autodesk expects adjusted earnings of 40 cents to 44 cents a share on revenue of $700 million to $710 million, while analysts had forecast 40 cents a share on revenue of $689.1 million. The company also announced it agreed to buy construction productivity software company PlanGrid for $875 million in a deal that is expected to close by the end of the fourth quarter. This acquisition will enable Autodesk to offer a more comprehensive, cloud-based construction platform. The deal is also notable because it is just one of many in the space, that involves a large company scooping up a smaller player in the sector.