Cadence issues soft current quarter guidance as hardware sales normalize (NASDAQ:CDNS)

Shares of Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ:CDNS) on Monday fell in extended trading, after the company forecast current quarter revenue and profit guidance that came in below estimates.

CDNS stock fell as much as 11.8% after hours, and was last down 6.8% to $285.72.

San Jose, Calif.-based Cadence (CDNS) creates computational software for electronic design and system analysis. It primarily offers products such as designing and packaging of chips used in all kinds of hardware, and the company counts major firms such as Nvidia (NVDA), Arm (ARM) and Intel (INTC) as its customers.

CDNS reported Q4 2023 adjusted earnings per share of $1.38 on revenue of $1.07B. Analysts had been expecting the company to earn $1.33 per share on revenue of $1.06B.

“We had a strong finish to the year, with growth across all our businesses in 2023,” Cadence (CDNS) finance chief John Wall said in a statement.

Wall noted that CDNS’ year-end backlog of $6B and current remaining performance obligations (a key revenue metric) of $3.2B were both records for the company.

However, Cadence’s (CDNS) guidance for Q1 2024 came under scrutiny. The firm sees revenue of $990M to $1.01B, versus a consensus estimate of $1.09B. Adjusted profit is expected to be in the range of $1.10 per share to $1.14 per share, compared to a consensus of $1.39.

Cadence (CDNS) said that Q1 was facing tough comparisons from the same quarter last year, in which hardware sales were exceptionally strong due to the company expanding production capacity in order to improve delivery lead times against its backlog.

CDNS also issued guidance for fiscal year 2024. The company expects adjusted earnings per share of $5.87 to $5.97 on sales of $4.55B to $4.61B. The consensus estimates are $5.89 and $4.58B, respectively.

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