Canadian Halal Investor.

NASDAQ Shariah screener · October 2026

Is Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (CDNS) Halal?

PASS

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. · NASDAQ: CDNS · Technology

The short answer

Yes - Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (CDNS) passes this Shariah stock screen at all three gates. Cadence, the San Jose-based EDA software company, earns its revenue from chip-design tools, hardware verification systems, and semiconductor IP (FY2025 revenue $5,296.759M) - none of which involve alcohol, tobacco, gambling, weapons, adult entertainment, pork, or conventional finance as a core activity. The financial ratios pass: total debt of $2,500M is about 2.78% of its ~$90B market cap ($350.73/share, October 2026), below the ~33% ceiling, and interest income of $101.584M is about 1.92% of revenue, below the 5% ceiling. Older-view note: Musaffa Academy's 'Halal stocks in nasdaq' list (~216 days old) marked CDNS 'Doubtful' - an older Academy-list entry, not a current direct rating. This is a factual screen, not a religious ruling - consult a qualified scholar for personal rulings.

Gate 1 — Business activity: PASS

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS), headquartered in San Jose, California (founded 1987/1988 via the merger of SDA Systems and ECAD), is one of two dominant players (alongside Synopsys) in Electronic Design Automation (EDA) - software tools and semiconductor IP that engineers use to design, verify, and manufacture chips. Per its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 (filed February 19, 2026; accession 0000813672-26-000016; CIK 0000813672; auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, San Jose), revenue product lines: Core EDA 71% (functional verification, digital/custom IC design and sign-off), Semiconductor IP 14% (interface and memory protocols), System Design & Analysis 15% (multiphysics/CFD simulation, expanded via the BETA CAE $1.2B 2024 acquisition and the pending Hexagon D&E $3.2B 2026 acquisition). Revenue model: annual license subscriptions (dominant; >85% recurring) plus hardware verification systems (Palladium/Protium). Customers: semiconductor and electronics systems companies (NVIDIA, Apple, Intel, Qualcomm, Samsung use Cadence or Synopsys EDA tools). Business-screen implication (factual): chip-design software and IP - no alcohol, tobacco, gambling, pork, weapons/defense manufacturing, adult entertainment, or conventional finance as a core activity; Cadence sells general-purpose chip-design software, not weapons or defense hardware (standard Shariah screens do not exclude EDA software). Gate 1 passes. Facts only.

Gate 2 — Debt and cash: PASS

Per Cadence Design Systems' Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 (filed February 19, 2026; accession 0000813672-26-000016; $ millions), total debt at December 31, 2025 was: long-term debt $2,480.150M (carrying; principal $2,500M = 2027 Notes $500M 4.200% + 2029 Notes $1,000M + 2034 Notes $1,000M). Against a market cap of about $90B ($350.73 per share, Finnhub, October 2026; sanity check: 271,799,000 shares outstanding at Dec 31, 2025 x $350.73 = about $95.33B - same ballpark), debt / market cap is about 2.78% - below the ~33% ceiling. Cash and cash equivalents of $3,001.317M is about 3.33% of market cap (no separate marketable-securities line - cash is the numerator). Total assets were $10,153.148M; stockholders' equity $5,474.181M. Gate 2 passes. Facts only.

Gate 3 — Non-compliant income: PASS

Per Cadence Design Systems' Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 (filed February 19, 2026; accession 0000813672-26-000016; $ thousands), interest income was $101,584 (2024: $62,484; 2023: $29,637) - from the 10-K's own 'OTHER INCOME, NET' note, which breaks down the $146.542M line (interest income $101,584 + gain on sale of IP $11,500 + gains on investments $57,589 + gains on NQDC trust securities $14,029 - foreign exchange losses $36,090 - other $2,070) - against total revenue of $5,296,759K = about 1.92% of revenue - below the 5% non-compliant income ceiling. Zoya's data fields independently report FY2025 revenue $5,296,759,000 and interest income $101,584,000 - matching the 10-K exactly. Gate 3 passes. Facts only.

Key figures used

Frequently asked questions

What does Cadence Design Systems do?

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS), headquartered in San Jose, California (founded 1987/1988 via the merger of SDA Systems and ECAD), is one of two dominant players (alongside Synopsys) in Electronic Design Automation (EDA) - software tools and semiconductor IP that engineers use to design, verify, and manufacture chips. Per its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 (filed February 19, 2026; accession 0000813672-26-000016; CIK 0000813672; auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, San Jose): revenue product lines - Core EDA 71% (functional verification, digital/custom IC design and sign-off), Semiconductor IP 14% (interface and memory protocols), System Design & Analysis 15% (multiphysics/CFD simulation, expanded via the BETA CAE $1.2B 2024 acquisition and the pending Hexagon D&E $3.2B 2026 acquisition). Revenue model: annual license subscriptions (dominant; >85% recurring) plus hardware verification systems (Palladium/Protium). Customers: semiconductor and electronics systems companies (NVIDIA, Apple, Intel, Qualcomm, Samsung use Cadence or Synopsys EDA tools). Its common stock trades on the Nasdaq (ticker CDNS). FY2025 total revenue was $5,296.759M (+14.1% YoY).

Why does Cadence Design Systems pass this Shariah stock screen?

Cadence Design Systems passes all three gates of this Shariah stock screen. Gate 1 (business activity): electronic design automation software and semiconductor IP (chip-design tools, verification systems, IP) - no alcohol, tobacco, gambling, pork, weapons/defense manufacturing, adult entertainment, or conventional finance as a core activity; Cadence sells general-purpose chip-design software, not weapons or defense hardware (standard Shariah screens do not exclude EDA software) - a clean business. Gate 2 (debt): total debt of $2,500M is about 2.78% of its ~$90B market cap (October 2026), below the ~33% ceiling. Gate 3 (non-compliant income): interest income of $101.584M is about 1.92% of FY2025 revenues ($5,296.759M), below the 5% ceiling. Result: PASS. Older-view note: Musaffa Academy's 'Halal stocks in nasdaq' list (~216 days old) lists CDNS as 'Doubtful' - honestly reported as an older Academy-list entry, not a current direct rating; no current musaffa.com/stock/CDNS/ page was found. This is a factual screen, not a religious ruling - consult a qualified scholar for personal rulings.

What is Cadence Design Systems' interest-bearing debt ratio?

Per Cadence Design Systems' Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 (filed February 19, 2026; accession 0000813672-26-000016; $ millions), total debt at December 31, 2025 was: long-term debt $2,480.150M (carrying; principal $2,500M = 2027 Notes $500M 4.200% + 2029 Notes $1,000M + 2034 Notes $1,000M). Against a market cap of about $90B ($350.73 per share, Finnhub, October 2026; sanity check: 271,799,000 shares outstanding at Dec 31, 2025 x $350.73 = about $95.33B - same ballpark), debt / market cap is about 2.78% - below the ~33% ceiling. Cash and cash equivalents of $3,001.317M is about 3.33% of market cap (no separate marketable-securities line - cash is the numerator). Total assets were $10,153.148M; stockholders' equity $5,474.181M. Gate 2 passes. Facts only.

How much interest income does Cadence Design Systems earn?

Per Cadence Design Systems' Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 (filed February 19, 2026; accession 0000813672-26-000016; $ thousands), interest income was $101,584 (2024: $62,484; 2023: $29,637) - from the 10-K's own 'OTHER INCOME, NET' note, which breaks down the $146.542M line (interest income $101,584 + gain on sale of IP $11,500 + gains on investments $57,589 + gains on NQDC trust securities $14,029 - foreign exchange losses $36,090 - other $2,070) - against total revenue of $5,296,759K = about 1.92% of revenue - below the 5% non-compliant income ceiling. Zoya's data fields independently report FY2025 revenue $5,296,759,000 and interest income $101,584,000 - matching the 10-K exactly. Gate 3 passes. Facts only.

Do Zoya, Musaffa, or ShariaPortfolio cover Cadence Design Systems?

Zoya covers Cadence at zoya.finance/stocks/cdns, but its auto-generated FAQ text is garbled/contradictory (renders 'As of October 2026, CDNS is Shariah-compliant and therefore considered halal to invest in' AND 'Shariah-compliant and therefore not considered halal to invest in' fragments simultaneously) - no clean Zoya rating can be quoted, and none is quoted here. Useful corroborating fact: Zoya's data fields report FY2025 revenue of $5,296,759,000 and interest income of $101,584,000 - matching the 10-K exactly (CDNS also appears on Zoya's halal-stocks list page). Musaffa: no current musaffa.com/stock/CDNS/ page found in web searches - honestly reported as no current coverage; only an older Musaffa Academy 'Halal stocks in nasdaq' list (~216 days old) lists 'Cadence Design Systems, Inc. | CDNS | 83.98B | Doubtful' - reported as an older Academy-list entry, not a current direct rating. ShariaPortfolio: no CDNS stock page found - honestly reported as no coverage found. Bonus signal (not a rating): fintel.io 13F data shows HLAL (the Wahed FTSE USA Shariah ETF) holds CDNS (7,229 shares, 2025-07-30).

Sources

Screened 2026-10-02 from published company figures and market data. Figures change; this page is educational, not financial advice and not a religious ruling.

Screened with our two-gate Shariah screening methodology (business-activity gate, then AAOIFI-style financial ratios).