Ansys beats fourth-quarter estimates on robust software demand
(Reuters) - Ansys beat Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter revenue and profit on Wednesday, driven by growing demand for its engineering software solutions, used to make a range of products such as airplanes and tennis rackets.
The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based company's shares rose nearly 2% in extended trading.
The results come more than a month after Synopsys, the largest maker of software used to design chips, said it would buy Ansys in a $35-billion cash-and-stock deal.
Ansys makes simulation software used by engineers, chip designers and researchers across industries that help analyze products for the real world.
The company's products compete with Autodesk's Fusion 360, AutoCAD and Dassault Systems' Solidworks.
The firm also offers artificial intelligence solutions (AI), including its customer support chatbot AnsysGPT that released in beta mode, a new cloud-enabled product SimAI and Ansys AI+ that provides add-ons to extend AI functionality.
"ANSS results give us greater confidence that underlying simulation demand is intact and that the industry is seeing sustainable double-digit software revenue growth," brokerage Oppenheimer said in a note.
Ansys reported revenue of $805.1 million for the fourth quarter, beating analysts' average estimate of $797.4 million, according to LSEG data.
Excluding items, it earned $3.94 per share, compared with an estimate of $3.71 per share.
Ansys, which partners with chip designer Nvidia, said on Tuesday that Rachel Pyles would replace Nicole Anasenes as its CFO, effective Feb. 22.
The transaction with Synopsys, which forecast second-quarter revenue and profit above estimates on Wednesday, is expected to be completed in the first half of 2025.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
