Intuit Inc., the maker of TurboTax, reported revenue and
earnings excluding items above its guidance for the April quarter,
reflecting a strong tax season and growth in its small-business
operations.
For the current quarter, the company expects a loss excluding
items of 10 cents to 12 cents a share on revenue of $720 million to
$745 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect a loss
excluding items of five cents a share on revenue of $728
million.
Intuit said on April 21 that TurboTax posted a strong tax
season, including 13% growth in TurboTax Online federal units.
In February, Intuit suspended the transmission of e-filed state
tax returns for about 24 hours following a surge of fraudulent
claims for refunds. The false filings typically used information
from 2013 tax returns. There were also reports of fraudulent
federal returns, although federal e-filing wasn't halted. Intuit
resumed state tax filings after enhancing security measures.
In March, Intuit said the U.S. Justice Department formally
requested information from the company and said the Federal Trade
Commission also contacted the company.
The company said Thursday that a strong performance in its
small-business segment included 55% growth in the number of
QuickBooks Online subscribers.
In after-hours trading, Intuit shares were up 1.3% to
$105.50.
Intuit, known for TurboTax, Quicken and QuickBooks, has
diversified through acquisitions including mobile payment provider
Check, document service DocStoc and tax-return helper
GoodApril.
Intuit said in August that a move toward subscriptions and
changes in desktop-product development would result in recognition
of desktop revenue over time, instead of the upfront license
revenue it previously recorded. Intuit said this would lead to a
"transition year" for fiscal 2015, with about $400 million of
revenue pushed into deferred revenue, and said it expected
double-digit revenue growth starting in fiscal 2016.
For the quarter ended April 30, Intuit reported a profit of $501
million, or $1.78 a share, compared with a year-earlier profit of
$984 million, or $3.39 a share. Excluding stock-based compensation
and other items, earnings fell to $2.85 a share from $3.53. Revenue
fell 8% to $2.19 billion.
Intuit had projected per-share earnings of $2.70 to $2.75 and
revenue of $2.075 billion to $2.15 billion.
Write to Josh Beckerman at josh.beckerman@wsj.com
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