ADSK, INTU, WDAY Earnings Preview: SaaS at a Crossroads

Autodesk [ADSK], Intuit [INTU] and Workday [WDAY], three key players in the software-as-a-service (SaaS) space, report their quarterly earnings on May 22, 2025.

Autodesk is a 3D design software company mainly catering to the architecture, engineering and construction industries. Intuit is a tax software company. Workday is a human resource (HR) and financial management software developer. 

Here, OPTO examines the recent performances of the three companies ahead of their quarterly earnings announcement.

Sector Talk

The global SaaS market is expected grow at a strong pace in 2025, with US-based research company Gartner forecasting worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services to increase by over 20% year-on-year to $723.4bn.

Unsurprisingly, artificial intelligence (AI) technology is set to drive the SaaS industry’s next chapter of growth. 

SaaS companies are scrambling to get ahead of the curve and are actively pursuing acquisitions. In September 2024, Workday spent $300m to acquire document intelligence platform Evisort to help clients automate contract analysis, with integrated services debuting in March 2025. In May 2024, Autodesk acquired animation studio Wonder Dynamics to bring AI capabilities to its 3D design tools.

Internally, companies are reorganizing to prioritize AI. Over the course of 2024 Intuit cut 10% of its executive level workforce to “allocate additional investments” to the company’s AI operations, while Autodesk and Workforce terminated 9% and 8.5% of their workforce, respectively, in early 2025 as a part of similar AI-focused strategies.

“Companies everywhere are reimagining how work gets done, and the increasing demand for AI has the potential to drive a new era of growth for Workday,” said Carl Eschenbach, CEO of Workday, highlighting the transformational shift underway across the SaaS sector.

SaaS Stocks Mirror Market Turbulence

Autodesk, Intuit and Workday have had turbulent starts to 2025, reflecting broader market volatility. From January to April, the trio tracked the downward movement of the benchmark S&P 500 index, weighed down by global tariff war tensions.

ADSK stock fell to an eight-month low of $232.67 on April 7 before recovering 28.11% to close at $298.08 on May 16. The stock is up a marginal 0.85% year-to-date and up 35.34% in the past 12 months.

INTU stock slumped to $532.65 on April 7, its lowest since November 2023. Intuit share price rebounded 25.84% to trade at $670.28 on May 16. The stock is up 7.01% in the year to date and up 2.98% in the past year.

WDAY stock slipped to an eight-month low of $205.33 on April 7. Workday share price bounced back 32.98% to close at $273.05 on May 16. The stock is up 5.82% in year-to-date terms and up 8.65% in the past 12 months.

Here is how the fundamentals of the three stocks currently compare to each other.

Source: Yahoo Finance

Looking at the fundamentals, WDAY trades at a lower P/S valuation than its peers, suggesting a valuation discount potentially due to its lower profit margin. However, it is important for readers to note that each company focuses on a different SaaS verticals.

ADSK Stock, INTU Stock, WDAY Stock: The Investment Case

The Bull Case for Autodesk

Autodesk is a leader in the architecture, engineering and construction software global market. Its revenue base is geographically diversified, with the US contributing around 36%, Europe, the Middle East and Africa 37%, and Asia-Pacific 18% of total annual revenue.

In fiscal 2025, Autodesk reported a 12% year-over-year increase in revenue to $6.13bn. A remarkable 97% of its full-year revenue came from recurring sources. The company expects its revenue to continue expanding at a healthy rate and has forecasted its full year revenue to grow at least 12.56% year-over-year to a range of $6.90bn–6.97bn in fiscal 2026. 

The Bear Case for Autodesk

Autodesk has been accused of using a controversial sales strategy despite internal concerns. According to Bloomberg, Autodesk offered discounts to corporate clients willing to pay up front for multi-year contract to show predictable cash flow.

The issue invited activist hedge fund Starfield Value to take a stake and push for boardroom changes. In April 2025, Autodesk accepted two Starfield-elected members to its board.

The Bull Case for Intuit

Intuit has created a strong competitive moat for itself in its core tax and accounting software market. The company has been selling notable products such as TurboTax and QuickBooks to individuals and small and medium-sized businesses since the 1980s, earning the firm customer loyalty and brand reputation. 

The California-based company is now doubling down on AI to improve user experience, automate financial tasks and deliver personalized insights on its platforms.

Looking ahead to the earnings announcement, investors can expect Intuit to report higher-than-average revenues in the January and April quarters due to the ongoing tax season in the US.

The Bear Case for Intuit

Intuit’s do-it-yourself tax software could come under pressure if the US government creates a free tax filing solution. Investigative journalism outlet ProPublica reported that Intuit lobbied against the government’s attempts to create a free tax filing software for years.

The Bull Case for Workday

According to Morningstar Research, Workday is a relatively new entrant to the enterprise resource planning market. The company has been able to take market share from older rivals such as Oracle [ORCL] and SAP [SAP] by providing a better user experience and lower costs through its cloud-based software products.

As more corporations migrate to cloud software, Workday’s stands to benefit from the expanding addressable market. In May 2025, the US Department of Government Efficiency awarded Workday a contract to replace federal HR systems.

The Bear Case for Workday

Workday’s core cloud-based human capital management and enterprise resource planning markets are highly competitive, which could result in pricing challenges and slower sales. Furthermore, the demand for Workday’s HR management software is vulnerable to macroeconomics forces, resulting in lower sales when hiring slows down in the US. 

Conclusion

Autodesk, Intuit and Workday are currently navigating a market that is going through a seismic shift. In this high-stakes, innovation-driven environment, SaaS firms face the risk of becoming obsolete if they fail to adapt. Each of the three companies have taken steps to integrate AI into their operations. Investors need to monitor whether these efforts will bear fruit and translate to revenue and profit growth.