In the latest trading session, Autodesk (ADSK) closed at $252.41, marking a -0.76% move from the previous day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's 1.1% loss on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.89%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.03%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the design software company had lost 10% over the past month. This has lagged the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 5.94% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.81% in that time.

Autodesk will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.43, up 21.19% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $1.19 billion, up 14.8% from the year-ago period.

ADSK's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $5.01 per share and revenue of $4.37 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +23.7% and +15.23%, respectively.

Investors should also note any 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.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Autodesk is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note Autodesk's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 50.81. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 35.44, so we one might conclude that Autodesk is trading at a premium comparatively.

It is also worth noting that ADSK currently has a PEG ratio of 1.45. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Computer - Software was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.64 at yesterday's closing price.

The Computer - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 98, which puts it in the top 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

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