Cadence Design Systems falls 5.3% as investors digest FY2026 outlook despite strong Q4 results

Cadence Design Systems (CDNS) is down 5.3% today. Here is some analysis on what might have caused this price movement.

Analysis: The drop appears tied to a “sell-the-news” reaction following Cadence’s latest quarterly results and forward outlook, where strong execution and backlog weren’t enough to offset investor sensitivity to valuation and guidance framing. This could also reflect caution that the company’s 2026 outlook excludes any impact from its pending acquisition of Hexagon’s design and engineering business, leaving some near-term uncertainty around incremental growth.

Details:

Cadence reported Q4 2025 revenue of $1.440 billion and non-GAAP diluted EPS of $1.99, up from the prior year’s quarter.

For full-year 2025, Cadence reported revenue of $5.297 billion and non-GAAP diluted EPS of $7.14.

Management said year-end backlog was $7.8 billion, with $3.8 billion expected to be recognized in the next 12 months from remaining performance obligations.

Cadence’s fiscal 2026 outlook included revenue of $5.9 billion to $6.0 billion and non-GAAP diluted EPS of $8.05 to $8.15, while noting the outlook excludes the pending Hexagon D&E acquisition.

Sources:

Cadence (Press Release / Investor Relations), The Motley Fool, MarketBeat

Disclaimer: This price movement analysis was generated with the help of AI. Please double-check the information provided for mistakes.

$CDNS Insider Trading Activity

$CDNS insiders have traded $CDNS stock on the open market 39 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 0 have been purchases and 39 have been sales.

Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $CDNS stock by insiders over the last 6 months:

JOHN M WALL (Sr. VP & CFO) has made 0 purchases and 4 sales selling 27,805 shares for an estimated $8,857,772.
ANIRUDH DEVGAN (President and CEO) has made 0 purchases and 7 sales selling 25,550 shares for an estimated $8,619,279.
CHIN-CHI TENG (Sr. Vice President) has made 0 purchases and 3 sales selling 18,096 shares for an estimated $5,914,007.
PAUL SCANNELL (Sr. Vice President) has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 5,490 shares for an estimated $1,863,494.
PAUL CUNNINGHAM (Sr. Vice President) has made 0 purchases and 6 sales selling 6,000 shares for an estimated $1,841,660.
ITA M BRENNAN has made 0 purchases and 15 sales selling 360 shares for an estimated $113,851.
MOSHE GAVRIELOV has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 25 shares for an estimated $7,898.

To track insider transactions, check out Quiver Quantitative's insider trading dashboard.

$CDNS Hedge Fund Activity

We have seen 675 institutional investors add shares of $CDNS stock to their portfolio, and 642 decrease their positions in their most recent quarter.

Here are some of the largest recent moves:

UBS AM, A DISTINCT BUSINESS UNIT OF UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC removed 11,429,245 shares (-75.5%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $3,572,553,402
J. STERN & CO. LLP added 2,924,470 shares (+10159.3%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $914,130,832
BLACKROCK, INC. removed 2,686,173 shares (-9.3%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $839,643,956
WELLINGTON MANAGEMENT GROUP LLP added 1,751,290 shares (+218.4%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $547,418,228
JENNISON ASSOCIATES LLC removed 1,016,098 shares (-11.6%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $317,611,912
FRANKLIN RESOURCES INC removed 860,775 shares (-21.8%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $269,061,049
BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT HOLDING S.A. added 760,556 shares (+240.8%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $237,734,594

To track hedge funds' stock portfolios, check out Quiver Quantitative's institutional holdings dashboard.

$CDNS Government Contracts

We have seen $1,995,234 of award payments to $CDNS over the last year.

Here are some of the awards which we have have seen pay out the most over the last year:

FY25 FIDELITY POINTWISE RENEWAL: $179,256
CADENCE SOFTWARE SUPPORT AND MAINTENANCE: $175,333
LARC FY25 POINTWISE CENTER CONSOLIDATED RENEWAL: $139,560
ANSA RENEWAL: $118,745
THE GOVERNMENT REQUIRES TWO (2) 12-MONTH LICENSES OF CADENCE MICROWAVE OFFICE WITH TWO (2) PACK MWO OPTION:...: $86,781

To track government contracts to publicy traded companies, check out Quiver Quantitative's government contracts dashboard.

$CDNS Analyst Ratings

Wall Street analysts have issued reports on $CDNS in the last several months. We have seen 6 firms issue buy ratings on the stock, and 1 firms issue sell ratings.

Here are some recent analyst ratings:

Morgan Stanley issued a "Overweight" rating on 02/18/2026
Needham issued a "Buy" rating on 02/18/2026
Citigroup issued a "Buy" rating on 11/24/2025
Baird issued a "Outperform" rating on 10/28/2025
JP Morgan issued a "Overweight" rating on 10/28/2025
Oppenheimer issued a "Underperform" rating on 10/28/2025
Wells Fargo issued a "Overweight" rating on 10/28/2025

To track analyst ratings and price targets for $CDNS, check out Quiver Quantitative's $CDNS forecast page.

$CDNS Price Targets

Multiple analysts have issued price targets for $CDNS recently. We have seen 9 analysts offer price targets for $CDNS in the last 6 months, with a median target of $375.0.

Here are some recent targets:

Blair Abernethy from Rosenblatt set a target price of $360.0 on 02/26/2026
Clarke Jeffries from Piper Sandler set a target price of $319.0 on 02/18/2026
Lee Simpson from Morgan Stanley set a target price of $370.0 on 02/18/2026
Charles Shi from Needham set a target price of $390.0 on 02/18/2026
Joe Quatrochi from Wells Fargo set a target price of $375.0 on 02/18/2026
Kelsey Chia from Citigroup set a target price of $385.0 on 11/24/2025
Joe Vruwink from Baird set a target price of $418.0 on 10/28/2025

This article is not financial advice. See Quiver Quantitative's disclaimers for more information. Note that there may be inaccuracies due to mistakes in ticker-mapping, and other anomalies.