Business Strategy and Outlook
Cadence provides electronic design automation software, intellectual property, and system design and analysis products that are critical to the semiconductor chip design process. It is held Cadence offers a compelling value proposition for investors looking to capitalize on secular trends in technology that are increasing the complexity of chip designs and advancing the digitalization of various end markets. Analysts fair value estimate for Cadence is $138 per share, up from $127 as experts’ model stronger near-term growth and profitability. With shares trading at around $155, It is foreseen the narrow-moat stable-moat-trend company as slightly overvalued.
It is likely Cadence’s products are transformational in enabling increasingly complex integrated circuit and system-on-chip design. Advancing technologies require these more powerful, precise, and efficient chips, for which EDA software informs the end-to-end process. Cadence is the second-largest EDA vendor, behind Synopsys, having multidecade-spanning market dominance in analog design and emerging as a force in digital design. While it is seen Cadence to grow at a slightly more muted pace than Synopsys, it is likely the firm’s analog stability, focus on profitability, and building of a holistic offering that includes unique system-level solutions as creating a compelling, risk mitigated narrative.
Cadence’s origins rest with analog chip design, which is an inherently stickier market than digital design, where Synopsys had its beginnings. Cadence is the market leader in analog EDA tools, holding over 80% of the market share for more than two decades. Analog chips boast more complex and archaic designs than digital chips, with longer design cycles and more loyal, risk-averse customers. While Synopsys holds a larger piece of the overall EDA market, it is anticipated Cadence’s core EDA segment benefits from a wider moat than Synopsys’ does because of the company’s exposure to analog chip design.
Financial Strength
It is likely Cadence’s narrow moat is derived from high customer switching costs associated with its EDA and system design and analysis businesses, and intangible assets associated with its IP portfolio. In experts’ opinion, this customer stickiness and broad, proprietary IP portfolio will drive excess returns on capital for Cadence over the next 10 years. It is alleged that Cadence’s unified portfolio of EDA tools lends itself to specialized, high-touchpoint, deeply integrated software that is believed to give rise to significant time costs, operational risks, and implementation expenses if it were to be replaced. It anticipated Cadence to grow at an 11% CAGR through 2026, as it is likely an uptick in EDA tool adoption from growing demand for new technologies and rising chip design costs. It is projected the systems business to support growth as well as designs trend from chip-level to board-level and multitier integrated systems become the standard for supporting advanced technologies. It is anticipated the IP business’ profitability focus, expansion of the margin-accretive systems business, and operating leverage to support margin expansion. It is held Cadence to increase non-GAAP operating margin from 35% in fiscal 2021 to 43% in fiscal 2026. In addition to deep integration into design flows, it is likely product familiarity is a defining factor among users of EDA tools that also drives higher switching costs. First, productivity gains from product familiarity drive a faster time-to-market, which is mission-critical in this industry when winning new nodes and designs is largely determined by staying ahead of the semiconductor industry’s pace of innovation. Second, as chip design is an incredibly expensive process, the margin for error is virtually non-existent and engineers are more likely to prefer tools with which they are familiar.
Company Profile
Cadence Design Systems was founded in 1988 after the merger of ECAD and SDA Systems. Cadence is known as an electronic design automation, or EDA, firm that specializes in developing software, hardware, and intellectual property that automates the design and verification of integrated circuits or larger chip systems. Historically, semiconductor firms have relied on the firm’s tools, but there has been a shift toward other non-traditional “systems” users given the development of the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, and cloud computing. Cadence is headquartered in Silicon Valley, has approximately 8,100 employees worldwide, and was added to the S&P 500 in late 2017.
(Source: MorningStar)
General Advice Warning
Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.