The full year fiscal 2020 and fourth quarter outlook assume a projected annual effective tax rate of 38 percent and 18 percent for GAAP and non-GAAP results, respectively.  Shifts in geographic profitability continue to impact the annual effective tax rate due to significant differences in tax rates in various jurisdictions.  Thus, assumptions for the annual effective tax rate are evaluated regularly and may change based on the projected geographic mix of earnings.

Earnings Conference Call and Webcast

Autodesk will host its third quarter conference call today at 5:00 p.m. ET. The live broadcast can be accessed at http://www.autodesk.com/investor. A transcript of the opening commentary will also be available following the conference call.

A replay of the broadcast will be available at 7:00 p.m. ET at http://www.autodesk.com/investor. This replay will be maintained on Autodesk's website for at least 12 months.

Investor Presentation Details

An investor presentation providing additional information can be found at http://www.autodesk.com/investor.

Glossary of Terms

Annualized Recurring Revenue (ARR): Represents the annualized value of our average monthly recurring revenue for the preceding three months. "Maintenance plan ARR" captures ARR relating to traditional maintenance attached to perpetual licenses. "Subscription plan ARR" captures ARR relating to subscription offerings. Refer to the definition of recurring revenue below for more details on what is included within ARR. Recurring revenue acquired with the acquisition of a business is captured when total subscriptions are captured in our systems and may cause variability in the comparison of this calculation.

ARR is currently one of our key performance metrics to assess the health and trajectory of our business. ARR should be viewed independently of revenue and deferred revenue as ARR is a performance metric and is not intended to be combined with any of these items.

Billings: Total revenue plus the net change in deferred revenue from the beginning to the end of the period.

Cloud Service Offerings: Represents individual term-based offerings deployed through web browser technologies or in a hybrid software and cloud configuration. Cloud service offerings that are bundled with other product offerings are not captured as a separate cloud service offering.

Constant Currency (CC) Growth Rates: We attempt to represent the changes in the underlying business operations by eliminating fluctuations caused by changes in foreign currency exchange rates as well as eliminating hedge gains or losses recorded within the current and comparative periods. We calculate constant currency growth rates by (i) applying the applicable prior period exchange rates to current period results and (ii) excluding any gains or losses from foreign currency hedge contracts that are reported in the current and comparative periods.

Core Business: Represents the combination of maintenance, product, and EBA. 

Enterprise Business Agreements (EBAs): Represents programs providing enterprise customers with token-based access or a fixed maximum number of seats to a broad pool of Autodesk products over a defined contract term.

Free Cash Flow: Cash flow from operating activities minus capital expenditures.

Maintenance Plan: Our maintenance plans provide our customers with a cost effective and predictable budgetary option to obtain the productivity benefits of our new releases and enhancements when and if released during the term of their contracts. Under our maintenance plans, customers are eligible to receive unspecified upgrades when and if available, and technical support. We recognize maintenance revenue over the term of the agreements, generally one year.  

Net Revenue Retention Rate (NR3): Measures the year-over-year change in ARR for the population of customers that existed one year ago ("base customers").  Net revenue retention rate is calculated by dividing the current period ARR related to base customers by the total ARR from one year ago.  ARR is based on USD reported revenue, and fluctuations caused by changes in foreign currency exchange rates and hedge gains or losses have not been eliminated.  ARR related to acquired companies is excluded from the calculation for at least one year from integration.

Other Revenue: Consists of revenue from consulting, training and other services, and is recognized over time as the services are performed. Other Revenue also includes software license revenue from the sale of products that do not incorporate substantial cloud services and is recognized up front.

Product Subscription: Provides customers the most flexible, cost-effective way to access and manage 3D design, engineering, and entertainment software tools. Our product subscriptions currently represent a hybrid of desktop and SaaS functionality, which provides a device-independent, collaborative design workflow for designers and their stakeholders.

Recurring Revenue: Consists of the revenue for the period from our traditional maintenance plans and revenue from our subscription plan offerings. It excludes subscription revenue related to consumer product offerings, select Creative Finishing product offerings, education offerings, and third party products. Recurring revenue acquired with the acquisition of a business is captured when total subscriptions are captured in our systems and may cause variability in the comparison of this calculation. 

Remaining Performance Obligations: The sum of total short-term, long-term, and unbilled deferred revenue. Current remaining performance obligations is the amount of revenue we expect to recognize in the next twelve months.

Spend: The sum of cost of revenue and operating expenses.

Subscription Plan: Comprises our term-based product subscriptions, cloud service offerings, and EBAs. Subscriptions represent a combined hybrid offering of desktop software and cloud functionality which provides a device-independent, collaborative design workflow for designers and their stakeholders. With subscription, customers can use our software anytime, anywhere, and get access to the latest updates to previous versions.

Subscription Revenue: Includes subscription fees from product subscriptions, cloud service offerings, and EBAs. 

Unbilled Deferred Revenue: Unbilled deferred revenue represents contractually stated or committed orders under early renewal and multi-year billing plans for subscription, services and maintenance for which the associated deferred revenue has not been recognized. Under FASB Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") Topic 606, unbilled deferred revenue is not included as a receivable or deferred revenue on our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including quotations from management, statements in the paragraphs under "Business Outlook" above and other statements about our short-term and long-term goals, and other statements regarding our strategies, market and product positions, performance and results. There are a significant number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from statements made in this press release, including: failure to achieve our revenue and profitability objectives; failure to successfully manage transitions to new business models and markets; failure to maintain cost reductions or otherwise control our expenses; difficulty in predicting revenue from new businesses and the potential impact on our financial results from changes in our business models; general market, political, economic, and business conditions; any imposition of new tariffs or trade barriers; the impact of non-cash charges on our financial results; fluctuation in foreign currency exchange rates; the success of our foreign currency hedging program; our performance in particular geographies, including emerging economies; the ability of governments around the world to meet their financial and debt obligations, and finance infrastructure projects; weak or negative growth in the industries we serve; slowing momentum in subscription billings or revenues; difficulties encountered in integrating new or acquired businesses and technologies; the inability to identify and realize the anticipated benefits of acquisitions; the financial and business condition of our reseller and distribution channels; dependence on and the timing of large transactions; pricing pressure; unexpected fluctuations in our annual effective tax rate; significant effects of tax legislation and judicial or administrative interpretation of tax regulations, including the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act; the timing and degree of expected investments in growth and efficiency opportunities; changes in the timing of product releases and retirements; and any unanticipated accounting charges. Our estimates as to tax rate are based on current tax law, including current interpretations of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and could be affected by changing interpretations of that Act, as well as additional legislation and guidance around that Act.