Intuit Holds Its Own, Despite Losses (INTU)

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) has posted revenues of $444.9 million, which is up 27% from the year ago quarter.  Its non-GAAP loss was -$0.10 EPS.  First Call had estimates at -$0.12 EPS on $437.5 million in revenues.  the losses are actually immaterial here as this is traditionally a throw-away quarter for the company.  Here is a break-down of the revenue segments, and the gains are listed as year-over-year unless specifically noted:

• QuickBooks revenue was $146.9 million, up 9%.
• Payroll & Payments revenue was $131.3 million, up 5%.
• Consumer Tax revenue was $13.3 million, up 18 %.
• Professional Tax revenue was $11.0 million, up 13%.
• Financial Institutions revenue was $72.2 million and includes the results of Digital Insight, which was acquired in February 2007.
• "Other" revenue was $70.2 million, up 11%.

Intuit reaffirmed its previously given revenue and earnings per share guidance for the second quarter of fiscal 2008: Revenue of $833 million to $848 million, or growth of 11 percent to 13 percent.  On a non-GAAP basis, diluted EPS is expected to be $0.34 to $0.36, compared with non-GAAP diluted EPS of $0.44 in the year-ago quarter.  Intuit would have expected second-quarter revenue growth of 8 percent to 10 percent and second-quarter non-GAAP diluted EPS of $0.40 to $0.42.  It is difficult to draw exact comparisons because of a unit shift, but we show First Call estimates at $0.38 EPS and $848.75 million in revenues.

Steve Bennett, Intuit’s president & CEO: “QuickBooks 2008 is off to a great start and Payroll and Payments growth continues to be strong. With the launch of TurboTax for the 2007 tax year coming next week, we’re looking forward to another great year for Intuit.” Of course the company can say a myriad of things on the conference call that might change this, but it sure looks like and sounds like Intuit is diversifying into a broader company with revenues and earnings that is becoming far less dependent only upon tax season each year.

Shares closed down 0.5% at $29.26, and shares are indicated up about 3% from teh closing price in after-hours trading.  The 52-week trading range is $26.14 to $34.94.

Jon C. Ogg
November 15, 2007

Jon Ogg produces the 24/7 Wall St. Special Situation Investing Newsletter; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.