Jefferies analyst downgrades Autodesk, sees weakness outside North America
By APFriday, August 6, 2010
Ahead of the Bell: Autodesk downgraded
NEW YORK — A Jefferies analyst lowered his investment rating on shares of Autodesk Inc. Friday and said the architecture and engineering software maker is experiencing some declining demand in Europe, Africa and the Middle East even as North America remains strong.
Europe, Africa and the Middle East account for 40 percent of the company’s sales and “therefore difficult to ignore,” wrote Ross MacMillan in a note to investors. He downgraded Autodesk to “Hold” from “Buy” and reduced his target price on the shares to $31 from $37.
“The data is not terrible, but it has paid to take note of inflections historically,” he wrote in a note to investors.
MacMillan expects a sequential revenue increase in Autodesk’s most recent quarter, but at a slower growth rate.
“Resellers in North America are slightly more optimistic about growth at (3 percent quarter-over-quarter), while their international counterparts expect a (2 percent sequential) growth in the quarter,” he wrote.
In April, however, resellers expected the July quarter to grow 6 percent sequentially compared with the current survey expectation of 2 percent, the analyst added.
Shares of Autodesk closed at $30.30 on Thursday.
