Autodesk Backs Q3, FY15 View; Names Scott Herren CFO - Update

(RTTNews) - Design software maker Autodesk, Inc. (ADSK) Wednesday backed its business outlook for the third quarter and fiscal year 2015. The firm also announced the appointment of Scott Herren as senior vice president and chief financial officer, effective November 1.

Herren, who is currently serving as senior vice president of finance at Citrix, will bring 30 years of financial, strategic and operational experience to Autodesk. He will be based in San Francisco and report to Autodesk President and Chief Executive Officer Carl Bass.

Herren has spent the past 14 years at Citrix, a provider of mobile workspaces, virtualization, networking and cloud services.

In June end, Autodesk had announced that its Chief Financial Officer Mark Hawkins has resigned from the company to join cloud computing company Salesforce.com (CRM) as their CFO.

For the third quarter ending October 31, 2014, the company still expects adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $0.17 to $0.23.

On a reported basis, results are expected to vary from a loss of $0.05 per share to earnings of $0.01 per share. Revenues are anticipated to be between $590 million and $605 million.

On average, 15 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect earnings of $0.22 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items. Analysts project revenues of $601.16 million.

For fiscal year ending January 31, 2015, the firm still sees revenue growth of 7 to 9 percent. For the prior fiscal, the firm had posted total net revenues of $2.27 billion.

Bass said, "We continue to be optimistic about our near-term opportunities and long term growth prospects. More and more designers, engineers and creative artists are recognizing the value of Autodesk and subscribing..."

The company is holding its Investor Day today.

ADSK is currently trading at $54.22.