Why Autodesk (ADSK) Remains a Leader in Design and Engineering Software

Why Autodesk (ADSK) Remains a Leader in Design and Engineering Software

Fri, August 28, 2026 at 7:41 PM GMT+3 3 min read

• ADSK -4.88%
• ^GSPC -0.38%

Aristotle Capital Management, LLC, an investment management company, released its "Value Equity Fund" Q2 2026 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The Fund delivered a 4.32% total return in Q2 2026, underperforming the 13.87% gain for the Russell 1000 Value Index and the 15.20% return for the S&P 500, while its 1.99% year-to-date return also lagged the Russell 1000 Value Index's 16.26% and the S&P 500's 10.21%. The Fund attributed the performance gap largely to limited exposure to the AI infrastructure spending boom, noting that the U.S. has about 4,000 existing data centers and nearly 3,000 more planned or under construction, while AI-related demand has created bottlenecks in processors and memory. The letter highlighted the scale of the cycle, with industry cash flows in key AI hardware areas rising sharply, while the Russell 1000 Value Index's top 10 contributors gained an average 182% year to date and accounted for 9.29 percentage points of the index's 16.23% return. Looking ahead, the fund expects investors to eventually reassess the sustainability of current AI infrastructure earnings and valuations. In addition, please check the Fund's top five holdings to know its best picks in 2026.

In its second-quarter 2026 investor letter, Aristotle Value Equity Fund highlighted stocks like Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK). Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) provides design and engineering software used across architecture, construction, manufacturing, and entertainment industries. The one-month return of Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) was 15.53% while its shares traded between $185.50 and $329.09 over the last 52 weeks. On August 27, 2026, Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) stock closed at approximately $254.77 per share, with a market capitalization of about $57.13 billion.

Aristotle Value Equity Fund stated the following regarding Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) in its Q2 2026 investor letter:

Headquartered in Northern California and founded in 1982, Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) produces software that allows companies to design and model their products and/or projects. The company is the global industry standard for computer-aided design in the architecture, engineering and construction industry (AEC). Autodesk's millions of subscribers rely on its software to design and model buildings, manufactured products, animated films, and video games. The company's four segments are AEC (~48% of net sales), its iconic software AutoCAD (~27%), Manufacturing (~20%), and Media and Entertainment (M&E) (~5%). Autodesk primarily sells its software on a subscription basis, having discontinued perpetual license sales of most standalone products in 2016. As part of the move to subscription licensing, Autodesk replaced its product suite with three streamlined "Industry Collections" focused on AEC, Manufacturing and M&E (Click Here To Read Letter In Detail).

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) is not on our list of 40 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds Heading Into 2026. As per our database, 67 hedge fund portfolios held Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) at the end of the first quarter, which was 81 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on thebest short-term AI stock.

In another article, we covered Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) and shared Brown Advisory Global Leaders Strategy Fund's views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2026 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.