Cadence Design Systems' (CDNS) "Buy" Rating Reiterated at Rosenblatt Securities

Key Points

• Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "Buy" on Cadence with a $360 price target (about a 14.5% upside); overall consensus from analysts is a "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $377.06.
• Cadence beat Q4 estimates (EPS $1.99 vs. $1.91; revenue $1.44B vs. $1.42B) and provided Q1 and FY2026 EPS guidance (Q1: 1.890–1.950; FY: 8.050–8.150), but shares dropped roughly 5.2% amid valuation concerns (PE ~77) that leave the stock sensitive to execution.
• The company is expanding AI-driven opportunities through partnerships with TSMC, NVIDIA and Google to broaden its TAM, while insiders have recently sold shares (CFO sold 21,500), even as institutions own about 84.9% of the stock.

Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ:CDNS - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Rosenblatt Securities in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $360.00 target price on the software maker's stock. Rosenblatt Securities' price target would suggest a potential upside of 14.53% from the company's current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on Cadence Design Systems from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Cadence Design Systems from $355.00 to $319.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Cadence Design Systems from $385.00 to $370.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Cadence Design Systems in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Cadence Design Systems from $410.00 to $375.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cadence Design Systems has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $377.06.

Cadence Design Systems Trading Down 5.2%

Shares of NASDAQ CDNS opened at $314.33 on Friday. Cadence Design Systems has a twelve month low of $262.75 and a twelve month high of $376.45. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $293.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $309.82. The firm has a market cap of $86.78 billion, a PE ratio of 77.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ:CDNS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The software maker reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.08. Cadence Design Systems had a return on equity of 29.34% and a net margin of 20.93%.The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.88 EPS. The business's revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Cadence Design Systems has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.890-1.950 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 8.050-8.150 EPS. Analysts expect that Cadence Design Systems will post 6.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO John M. Wall sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.45, for a total transaction of $6,653,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 86,875 shares in the company, valued at $26,883,468.75. The trade was a 19.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Ita M. Brennan sold 180 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.03, for a total value of $53,105.40. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,203,874.10. This trade represents a 2.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 24,680 shares of company stock worth $7,579,340 in the last ninety days. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CDNS. Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new position in Cadence Design Systems during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. grew its stake in Cadence Design Systems by 860.0% during the 1st quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 96 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in Cadence Design Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Caitlin John LLC purchased a new stake in Cadence Design Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Swiss RE Ltd. purchased a new stake in Cadence Design Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. 84.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cadence Design Systems News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Cadence Design Systems this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Expanded collaboration with TSMC to deliver signoff‑ready flows, silicon‑proven IP and certified tool chains for leading-edge nodes (N3/N2/A16/A14), which should speed advanced AI‑chip development and improve customer time‑to‑market. Cadence Expands TSMC Alliance to Boost Advanced AI Chip Design
• Positive Sentiment: Deepened partnership with NVIDIA to integrate Cadence’s AI design automation and simulation with NVIDIA’s AI infrastructure — supports agentic AI, digital twins and physical‑AI systems which can broaden Cadence’s TAM and drive tool adoption. Cadence And NVIDIA Deepen AI Partnership As Valuation Stays Demanding
• Positive Sentiment: Partnership with Google to optimize Cadence’s ChipStack AI Super‑Agent with Gemini on Google Cloud, reinforcing cloud and agentic‑AI distribution channels for Cadence tools. Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL)’s Google Partners with Cadence to Advance Chip Development
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst bullishness (Needham: “ChatGPT moment”) highlights growing optimism that agentic AI could materially accelerate Cadence’s revenue and margin expansion if adoption scales. The 'ChatGPT moment' for Cadence Design Systems might just have arrived, says Needham. Should you buy CDNS stock now?
• Neutral Sentiment: Q1 earnings preview: analysts expect solid AI‑driven demand and backlog but flag macro and competitive pressures — results/guidance will be the near‑term catalyst to confirm momentum. Cadence Design to Release Q1 Earnings: Here's What to Expect
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector earnings activity (example: SS&C beat estimates) shows mixed results across software/tech names today — sector flows may be influencing Cadence’s share moves but are not company‑specific drivers. SS&C Technologies (SSNC) Tops Q1 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
• Negative Sentiment: Market coverage flagged that CDNS underperformed the broader market today; the stock decreased materially on the session — likely a reaction to profit‑taking and high street sensitivity to any growth/guidance misses. Cadence Design Systems (CDNS) Suffers a Larger Drop Than the General Market: Key Insights
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing valuation concerns — coverage notes Cadence’s premium multiple makes the stock sensitive to near‑term execution and guidance; any slip in revenue cadence or slower tool adoption could pressure shares. Cadence And NVIDIA Deepen AI Partnership As Valuation Stays Demanding

Cadence Design Systems Company Profile

Cadence Design Systems, Inc NASDAQ: CDNS is a global provider of electronic design automation (EDA) software, hardware and intellectual property used to design and verify advanced semiconductor chips, systems-on-chip (SoCs), printed circuit boards (PCBs) and packaging. Headquartered in San Jose, California and founded in 1988, Cadence serves semiconductor companies, original equipment manufacturers and system designers across the globe, helping customers accelerate design cycles and manage the complexity of modern integrated systems.

The company's offerings span software tools for digital, custom/analog and mixed-signal design, verification and signoff, as well as solutions for system-level modeling, thermal and signal integrity analysis, and PCB and package design.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.