Autodesk Raised Its Fiscal 2027 Revenue Guide and Cut the Floor of Its GAAP EPS Range by 18 Cents. The MaintainX Deal Sits on Only One Side of That Comparison.

by Yemi Abiodun · August 28, 2026

Guidance & Outlook Reporter, Earnings Dispatch

Autodesk reported fiscal 2027 second-quarter results on Thursday, August 27, in a release timestamped 4:01 p.m. ET, covering a quarter the company says ended July 31, 2026. Alongside the quarter it replaced the full-year outlook it had issued three months earlier, and the two documents do not move in the same direction on every line.

The quarter itself, on the company's self-reported numbers: total net revenue of $2,046 million, up 16 percent as reported and 14 percent in constant currency. GAAP operating margin was 29 percent and non-GAAP operating margin 41 percent. GAAP diluted earnings per share came to $2.33 and non-GAAP diluted EPS to $3.30, so the GAAP figure is about 71 percent of the adjusted one and the two are 97 cents apart.

Billings were $1,854 million, up 10 percent. Free cash flow was $561 million, up 24 percent. Remaining performance obligations stood at $7,433 million, up 2 percent, while current remaining performance obligations -- the portion expected to be recognised within twelve months -- were $5,245 million, up 12 percent. The near-term book grew six times as fast as the total book.

The new full-year guide against the old one

In its May 28, 2026 first-quarter release, Autodesk guided fiscal 2027 billings to $8,505 million to $8,580 million, revenue to $8,155 million to $8,215 million, GAAP operating margin to 26 to 28 percent, non-GAAP operating margin to about 39 percent, GAAP EPS to $8.07 to $8.63, non-GAAP EPS to $12.40 to $12.65 and free cash flow to $2,725 million to $2,800 million.

Thursday's release guides billings to $8,575 million to $8,650 million, revenue to $8,295 million to $8,345 million, GAAP operating margin to 25 to 27 percent, non-GAAP operating margin to about 39 percent, GAAP EPS to $7.89 to $8.72, non-GAAP EPS to $12.52 to $12.60 and free cash flow to $2,725 million to $2,750 million.

Line by line: billings rose $70 million at both ends. Revenue rose $140 million at the bottom and $130 million at the top. GAAP operating margin came down a point at both ends. Non-GAAP operating margin did not move. Free cash flow held its floor and lost $50 million from its ceiling.

The comparison is not like for like

The reason to be careful with all of the above is stated in the May release itself, in a footnote sitting directly beneath the guidance table: it does not include MaintainX. Management added in the same release that it would include the impact of the acquisition in guidance after the transaction closed. The August guidance includes it. So the revenue and billings increases are a mixture of underlying change and acquired contribution, and the company says as much. Chief financial officer Janesh Moorjani is quoted in Thursday's release saying: "We have increased our fiscal 27 billings and revenue growth guidance to reflect higher underlying growth expectations, as well as the incremental contribution from MaintainX." Autodesk did not, in the release read for this article, split the raise between the two.

Moorjani does not attribute the narrowed free-cash-flow range to any single item. He describes it as stronger underlying expectations offset by the operating and net financing costs of MaintainX, and says the guide includes approximately $45 million of transaction expenses related to the acquisition. On the unchanged non-GAAP operating margin guide he cites higher underlying margins from operating leverage and benefits from go-to-market optimisation, offset by margin dilution from MaintainX -- three moving parts, not one.

One earnings band widened, the other collapsed

The GAAP earnings range moved from $8.07-$8.63 to $7.89-$8.72. The floor came down 18 cents, the ceiling went up 9 cents, and the width of the band went from 56 cents to 83 cents -- about half again as wide. The midpoint edged down from $8.35 to $8.305.

The non-GAAP range went the other way. It moved from $12.40-$12.65 to $12.52-$12.60: the floor up 12 cents, the ceiling down 5 cents, and the width from 25 cents to 8 cents, under a third of what it was. The midpoint edged up, from $12.525 to $12.56.

Put those two midpoints side by side and the distance between Autodesk's GAAP and non-GAAP full-year earnings guidance is $4.255 a share -- more than fifty times the width of the non-GAAP range itself, which is eight cents. The company is guiding its adjusted earnings within an eight-cent window and its statutory earnings within an 83-cent window more than ten times wider, for the same twelve months of the same business.

The third-quarter guide, for the period ending October 31, 2026, repeats the pattern on a smaller scale: revenue of $2,125 million to $2,140 million, GAAP EPS of $1.57 to $1.87 and non-GAAP EPS of $3.04 to $3.09. That is a 30-cent GAAP band against a 5-cent non-GAAP one.

What comes out

The items Autodesk excludes to get from GAAP to non-GAAP, per the release, are stock-based compensation, amortisation of purchased intangibles and developed technologies, acquisition-related costs, gains and losses on strategic investments and dispositions, restructuring and facility-related asset impairments, and an income tax adjustment based on a projected long-term non-GAAP effective tax rate. In the second quarter the company put stock-based compensation at 9 points of operating margin, intangible amortisation at 2 points and acquisition-related costs at 1 point, which together account for the whole of the 12-point gap between the 29 percent GAAP and 41 percent non-GAAP operating margins.

Moorjani said in the release that the company delivered strong second-quarter results with consistent execution and momentum, and that its sales reorganisation is proceeding as expected. Chief executive Andrew Anagnost framed the period around artificial intelligence, saying: "AI turns connected data and context into actionable project intelligence that can ease endemic capacity constraints, raise the bar on what's possible in the physical world, and help our customers do more with scarce resources."