Autodesk says it’s sticking to tuck-in acquisitions

And the news just keeps coming on what is supposed to be a sleepy summer Monday … unless you’re in France, where it’s Bastille Day.

Autodesk just released a filing to the SEC (here on Autodesk’s website) that is short and to the point:

We are confident in our plans to drive long-term shareholder value and remain focused on executing our established strategic priorities in cloud, platform, and AI; optimizing our sales and marketing to drive higher margins; and allocating capital to organic investment, targeted and tuck-in acquisitions, and continuing our share repurchase program as our free cash flow grows.

A couple of key phrases for our consideration: “tuck-in” means small, not many billions of dollars. “Organic investment” = “we can do it, don’t need to buy it”. So, without using any letters that look like P, T, or C, it would seem that Autodesk is no longer interested in that acquisition, if it ever was.

Some of you asked a very interesting question: could Autodesk have floated that rumor of an acquisition of PTC by Autodesk as a way of checking market acceptance? Sure, it could, but it was a risky thing to try, if that’s what it was: Autodesk’s share price dropped 12% last week after this all bubbled to the surface.

And that is, I hope, all for today. Vive la République! to all who celebrate.