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The Moat Index

CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC.

CDNS · Technology · $89.7B mkt cap · FY2025 filings · Not rated ·

Not rated

—/ 100
Not rated

We don't have enough comparable filing data to score CDNS on every filter, so we don't publish a composite. Missing: pricingPower.

19 years of fundamentals

The business, in plain English

Across the filed record, revenue grew from $1.0B (FY2008) to $5.3B (FY2025) — about 10.1% a year compounded over 17 years.

It earned 44.0% on invested capital in FY2025, with a median of 44.6% across 14 filed years. The Returns on Capital filter above scores it 100/100.

CDNS's filings don't disclose total debt in a form the methodology can use, so leverage is treated as unmeasured — never assumed to be zero.

The share count has held roughly flat between FY2009 and FY2025. Capital Discipline scores it 85/100.

This breakdown is generated from the filed numbers and sub-scores above — no outside narrative, no estimates. Where a filing doesn’t disclose an input, the sentence that would need it is omitted instead of guessed.

FY2007–FY2025 · 19 fiscal years, normalized from CDNS’s SEC filings

RevenueSales, as filed$5.3B FY2025
$0$2B$4B2007201320192025
Gross marginRevenue kept after cost of goods94.5% FY2012
0%50%100%2007201320192025
Return on invested capitalOperating profit on the capital employed44.0% FY2025
0%50%100%2007201320192025
Owner earningsCash an owner could take out$1.2B FY2025
−$2B$02007201320192025

Gaps in a line mean that item isn’t in CDNS’s filings for that year — the series is never interpolated or estimated. The Table view lists every filed value, including operating and net margins, total debt, and share count.

Moat Score history

6 logged readings since Jul 17, 2026 · append-only, never rewritten

Moat Score over timeLast scored reading of each day, on the 0–100 scale

No composite readings yet — CDNS’s filings don’t give the engine enough comparable data to score, and we log that honestly instead of guessing a number.

Tier changesSame-methodology crossings of the Wide / Narrow / Shallow bars

None yet — CDNS hasn't been rated on any logged capture, so there's no tier to change from.

Scores are logged append-only and never overwritten — this record can’t be backfilled, which is exactly why it’s worth keeping.

Track record

How CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC.’s moat rated in each of the years we can reconstruct from its filings — scored only on what was knowable at the time — and what its price and returns did afterward. The score never saw a price; the two are joined only in hindsight, for education, not as a signal.

As-of scores 2011–2025, one methodology version · reconstructed from filings on file each Dec 31 — never with hindsight

As-of Moat Score (dot colored by tier)Indexed price (total-return (dividends reinvested))Rated Wide-moat that year

How to read this: each dot is what the engine would have scored CDNS on that December 31; the line below is its total-return price path (dividends reinvested) in the years since.

0406080100WideNarrowShallowNo moatAs-of Moat Score1002005001,0002,000Indexed price · log scale (2012 = 100)201120142017202020232026

Two tracks, one timeline: the score has its own 0–100 scale (top), the price its own 100-based scale (bottom) — never a shared axis. The price path is a total-return (dividends reinvested) index built from the same data the forward returns use; gaps in the score line are years with no reconstructed rating (see the table for why). The Table view carries every value.

What followed, in the years it rated Wide

In the 3 years CDNS rated Wide-moat (2019, 2020 and 2021), the median forward total return that followed — measured only after each year’s filings were public — was:

  • 1 year 35% vs the S&P 500’s 14% (price basis) · median over 3 years
  • 3 years 94% vs the S&P 500’s 22% (price basis) · median over 3 years
  • 5 years 223% vs the S&P 500’s 83% (price basis) · median over 2 years

These are medians computed from the data, not a claim about any one year. The company figures are total returns (dividends reinvested); the S&P 500 is the price-only ^GSPC index, which excludes dividends and so understates the index — the gap flatters the company. A quality rating is not a return forecast, and past returns don’t predict future ones. Educational only, not investment advice.

Technology context

Not ranked — CDNS doesn’t have enough comparable filing data for a composite score, so we don’t place it on the board.

Technology leaders by Moat Score

  1. #1FTNT FORTINET, INC.100.0Wide moat
  2. #2META Meta Platforms, Inc.99.3Wide moat
  3. #3MCO Moody’s Corporation98.8Wide moat

All Technology companies on the Index →

Common questions about CDNS

Does CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC. have an economic moat?
We don't publish a Moat Score for CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC. (CDNS): its SEC filings don't provide enough comparable data to score every filter, and the Index records that gap rather than a guessed number. Missing inputs: pricing power.
Is CDNS stock trading below its intrinsic value?
Against a deliberately conservative owner-earnings model (9% discount rate, 4% assumed growth, capped at 4%), estimated intrinsic value is $71.79 per share versus a recent price of $330.11 — 360% above value. This is an educational estimate computed from primary SEC filings, not investment advice.
How has CDNS's Moat Score changed over time?
The record logs 6 readings since Jul 17, 2026, none with a composite — CDNS hasn't had enough comparable filing data to score. No tier changes on record yet. The history is append-only — readings are only ever added, never rewritten.
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Scored from primary SEC filings via the public methodology. Educational only — not a recommendation to buy or sell CDNS. See the disclaimer.