Better-than-expected results announced after the bell last night had traders snapping up shares in software firm Autodesk Inc (NASDAQ:ADSK) in after-hours' trading.
Fourth quarter underlying earnings per share were negative at 9 US cents but that was better than the company's guidance range of a loss of 10 to 14 US cents and the market consensus forecast of a loss of 12 US cents.
READ: Autodesk shares dive premarket after company announces layoffs, third quarter results
Revenue rose to US$553.8mln from US$478.8mln in the final quarter of 2016, ahead of the company's guidance of US$537mln to US$547mln and better than the Street's expectations of US$545.3mln.
Subscription plan annualized recurring revenue (ARR) more than doubled to US$1.18bn, and now just about form the bulk of the software house's total ARR of US$2.05bn; like a lot of software houses, Autodesk is moving to a subscription-based model, which delivers a steady stream of income, away from the old model of selling licenses that provided a much more lumpy revenue stream.
Total subscriptions increased 127,000 from the third quarter to 3.72 million at the end of the fourth quarter.
"We continue to execute well on our business model transition and are poised to further accelerate ARR growth next year," said Andrew Anagnost, president and chief executive officer of the computer-aided design software developer.
"We were pleased to see a meaningful increase in total annualized revenue per subscription (ARPS) and a better than expected conversion rate with the maintenance to subscription program. Total subscription additions for the quarter were impacted by a greater than expected number of customers shifting from individual products to higher value Industry Collections resulting in ARR growth," Anagnost revealed.
The shares were up 11% at US$133 in screen-based trading.