Cadence Design Systems (CDNS) Earnings: Q3 2026 Results

The quarter ended September 30, 2026 and Cadence published the results on October 26, 2026. Revenue and diluted EPS are shown against Q3 2025, the same quarter a year earlier, which takes seasonal swings out of the comparison. Cadence reports EPS two ways: GAAP, under the accounting rules every US filer follows, and non-GAAP, which leaves out items the company considers outside its operating results. The release reconciles the two, and when they diverge, the reconciliation says why.

• Cadence acquired the design and engineering business of Hexagon on February 23, 2026, for approximately $3.0 billion. Its revenue sits mainly in the System Design and Analysis product category, so year-over-year growth includes acquired revenue.
• Cadence reports in thousands of dollars; figures here are converted to millions. Cadence also gives revenue by product category (Core EDA, Semiconductor IP, System Design and Analysis) as a percentage of total revenue only.

Source: Cadence Q3 2026 results, October 26, 2026. Also in the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026. Figures as reported; checked against the release on November 10, 2026.

How Cadence splits revenue in its own release, under its own labels, for Q3 2026 against Q3 2025. Indented lines are parts of the line above them.

• Cadence's Product and maintenance revenue was $1.5 billion in Q3 2026, up 23% from $1.2 billion in Q3 2025, 91% of total revenue.
• Cadence's Services revenue was $146 million in Q3 2026, up 11% from $131 million in Q3 2025, 9% of total revenue.

Segment lines are the figures writers cite most often, because they show where the growth in a quarter came from. Companies redraw their segments from time to time and restate the prior year to match, so a year-ago figure here can differ from the one printed a year ago. When that has happened, the note above says so.

From the earnings release

In its Q3 2026 release, Cadence said:

“Revenue in the range of $6.387 billion to $6.417 billion”

“Non-GAAP diluted net income per share in the range of $8.37 to $8.43”

“Revenue: $1.695 billion - $1.725 billion”

“Non-GAAP EPS: $2.19 - $2.25”

Source: Cadence Q3 2026 release and CFO commentary, Oct 26, 2026.

This is the company's own guidance as of Oct 26, 2026, quoted as given. Walnut does not make forecasts of its own. Analyst estimates for the coming quarters are on the CDNS forecast page.

Revenue and diluted EPS for the last 5 quarters. Each date links to that quarter's release.

Total revenue and GAAP diluted EPS, each as first reported in that quarter's release.

We do not hold a confirmed date for Cadence's next report. Companies post the date on their investor relations site a few weeks ahead, usually with the time of the conference call.

Each quarter keeps its own page with the figures as reported, so a link to one stays pointed at the same numbers after the next report.

• Q3 2026 (this page), reported Oct 26, 2026

Cadence's revenue was $1.633 billion in Q3 2026, against $1.339 billion a year earlier, a 22% increase. Product and maintenance made up $1,487 million and services $146 million. By product category, Core EDA was 69% of revenue, Semiconductor IP 15% and System Design and Analysis 16%. (Cadence Q3 2026 release, Oct 26, 2026; Cadence CFO commentary, Q3 2026, Oct 26, 2026)

Cadence said every product category grew by double digits. Core EDA revenue grew 20%, with 16 new digital and signoff full-flow wins, and hardware had another record quarter. IP revenue rose 24% and System Design and Analysis revenue 30%; the latter includes the Hexagon design and engineering business, whose revenue the 10-Q says is classified mainly as product and maintenance in that category. (Cadence Q3 2026 release, Oct 26, 2026; Cadence Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Oct 28, 2026)

Most of Cadence's revenue is recurring: 79% in Q3 2026, against 82% a year earlier, with the remaining 21% up-front. Cadence primarily licenses software on time-based licenses, generally two to three years long. Backlog reached a record $8.2 billion, and $4.2 billion of remaining performance obligations is expected to be recognized in the next 12 months. (Cadence CFO commentary, Q3 2026, Oct 26, 2026; Cadence Form 10-K, 2025, Feb 19, 2026; Cadence Q3 2026 release, Oct 26, 2026)

By geography, the Americas were 43% of Cadence's Q3 2026 revenue, China 16% (18% a year earlier), Other Asia 19%, Europe, Middle East and Africa 15% and Japan 7%. The 10-Q notes that a BIS rule extending export restrictions to companies 50% or more owned by listed entities was suspended through November 9, 2026, and had not been formally extended at the filing date. (Cadence CFO commentary, Q3 2026, Oct 26, 2026; Cadence Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Oct 28, 2026)

Cadence's GAAP diluted EPS was $1.05 in both Q3 2026 and Q3 2025, while non-GAAP EPS rose to $2.11 from $1.93. The per-share gap is stock-based compensation ($0.53), amortization of acquired intangibles ($0.29, up from $0.10 after the Hexagon deal), restructuring ($0.15) and acquisition and integration-related costs ($0.09). GAAP operating margin was 26.2% and non-GAAP operating margin 44.1%, against 31.8% and 47.6%. (Cadence Q3 2026 release, Oct 26, 2026)

Cadence started its 2026 Restructuring Plan in September 2026, made up of severance and termination benefits from headcount reductions, and recorded $42.2 million of restructuring in Q3. The GAAP effective tax rate was 29.0%, against 26.9%; Cadence uses a 16.5% non-GAAP tax rate. (Cadence Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Oct 28, 2026; Cadence Q3 2026 release, Oct 26, 2026; Cadence CFO commentary, Q3 2026, Oct 26, 2026)

Cadence repurchased 1,305 thousand shares for $400.0 million in Q3 2026, double the $200.0 million of a year earlier, and on October 23, 2026 its board authorized an additional $2.5 billion. Diluted shares still rose to 275,278 thousand from 273,798 thousand; the Hexagon purchase included 3.2 million Cadence shares. (Cadence Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Oct 28, 2026; Cadence Q3 2026 release, Oct 26, 2026)

Diluted EPS divides net income by the weighted average number of shares outstanding in the quarter, plus the shares that options and other equity awards could add. Buybacks shrink that count and lift EPS for the same profit; share issuance and stock awards enlarge it.

Cadence gives quarterly and full-year guidance in its release and CFO commentary, and raised the full year for the third time in 2026. Fiscal 2026 revenue is now expected at $6.387 billion to $6.417 billion (previously $6,260 to $6,340 million), GAAP EPS at $4.84 to $4.90 and non-GAAP EPS at $8.37 to $8.43 (previously $8.05 to $8.15). (Cadence Q3 2026 release, Oct 26, 2026; Cadence CFO commentary, Q3 2026, Oct 26, 2026)

For Q4 2026 Cadence guided revenue of $1.695 billion to $1.725 billion, GAAP EPS of $1.23 to $1.29 and non-GAAP EPS of $2.19 to $2.25. It expects about $2.0 billion of operating cash flow for the year, plans to use approximately $400 million on buybacks in Q4, and expects to spend more than 50% of 2026 free cash flow on repurchases. (Cadence CFO commentary, Q3 2026, Oct 26, 2026)

A consensus figure is the average of the models published by the analysts who cover Cadence, collected by a data provider and revised up to the day of the report. A quarter that lands above it says how expectations were set as much as how the business did, and the share price on the day also reflects the guidance and the lines no consensus covers.

The consensus figures on this page are Yahoo Finance's, as pulled on the date shown. Each comes with the number of analysts behind it; the smaller that number, the more one revised estimate can move the average.

The figures below are the ones Cadence's own release and filings put weight on for Q3 2026, with the latest reported value for each.

What the quarter means for a holding is a separate question from what it reported. The case for and against owning CDNS is on is CDNS a buy or a sell?, what analysts expect next is on the CDNS forecast, and what the company does is on the Cadence Design Systems (CDNS) stock page.

Every number on this page can be traced to a document Cadence published. Checking one takes a couple of minutes, and it is worth doing before you quote a figure anywhere.

• The results release is the document linked in the source line above. Companies publish it on their investor relations site at the moment results go out, and it carries the headline tables: revenue, operating income, net income and EPS for the quarter and the year-ago quarter.
• The same release is filed with the SEC as Exhibit 99.1 to a Form 8-K under Item 2.02, usually on the day of the report. The SEC copy does not change after the fact, which makes it the safer thing to link when you cite a number.
• The quarterly report (Form 10-Q) follows within a few weeks and carries the full financial statements, the segment note and management's discussion of what changed. The fourth quarter is covered by the annual report (Form 10-K) instead.
• Restated comparisons are flagged in the notes on this page. When a company redraws its segments or changes how it adjusts EPS, it restates the year-ago column, so the year-ago figure in a new release can differ from the one printed a year ago. This page always uses the comparison in the newer release, because that is the like-for-like one.

A walk-through of every line in a release, with what each one tells you, is in how to read an earnings report.