In the latest trading session, Autodesk (ADSK) closed at $195.64, marking a +1.59% move from the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 2.02%. At the same time, the Dow added 1.34%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.27%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the design software company had lost 2.01% over the past month. This has was narrower than the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 10.33% and the S&P 500's loss of 8.64% in that time.

Autodesk will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, Autodesk is projected to report earnings of $1.33 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 29.13%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $1.15 billion, up 16.38% from the year-ago period.

ADSK's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $6.73 per share and revenue of $5.06 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +32.74% and +15.46%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Autodesk. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. Autodesk currently has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Investors should also note Autodesk's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 28.63. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 28.05, which means Autodesk is trading at a premium to the group.

The Computer - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 155, which puts it in the bottom 39% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.

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