For a detailed discussion of these and other cautionary statements related to Cadence's business, please refer to Cadence's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which include Cadence's most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, including Cadence's future filings.

GAAP to Non-GAAP Reconciliation

Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered as a substitute for or superior to measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP.  Investors are encouraged to review the reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures contained within this press release with their most directly comparable GAAP financial results.  Investors are also encouraged to look at the GAAP results as the best measure of financial performance.

To supplement Cadence's financial results presented on a generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, basis, Cadence management uses non-GAAP measures that it believes are helpful in understanding Cadence's performance.  One such measure is non-GAAP net income, which is a financial measure not calculated under GAAP. Non-GAAP net income is calculated by Cadence management by taking GAAP net income and excluding, as applicable, amortization of intangible assets and debt discount related to convertible notes, stock-based compensation expense, acquisition and integration-related costs including changes in fair value of contingent consideration and retention expenses for employees added from our 2013 and 2014 acquisitions, special charges (comprised of costs related to a voluntary retirement program and executive severance costs), investment gains or losses, income or expenses related to Cadence's non-qualified deferred compensation plan, restructuring and other significant items not directly related to Cadence's core business operations, and the income tax effect of non-GAAP pre-tax adjustments.  For 2015, Cadence is applying a non-GAAP income tax rate of 23 percent, down from 26 percent used in fiscal 2014, based on forecasted increases in foreign earnings that are expected to lower Cadence's long-term non-GAAP effective income tax rate.

Cadence's management uses non-GAAP net income because it excludes items that are generally not directly related to the performance of the company's core business operations and therefore provides supplemental information to Cadence's management and investors regarding the performance of the business operations, facilitates comparisons to the historical operating results and allows the review of Cadence's business from the same perspective as Cadence's management, including forecasting and budgeting.

The following tables reconcile the specific items excluded from GAAP net income and GAAP net income per diluted share in the calculation of non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per diluted share for the periods shown below: