Intuit's Revenue Edges Up on Subscriber Growth

By Tess Stynes 

Intuit Inc. said its revenue rose 3.3% in the January quarter, helped by subscriber growth, while the company said it continues to take measures to navigate a heightened sense of concern about tax fraud.

Earlier this month--and after the quarter ended--a wave of fraudulent tax-return filings caused the company's TurboTax business to halt the transmission of e-filed state tax returns for about 24 hours. Intuit has said it thinks there was no breach of the company's computer systems and that information used to file the fraudulent returns was obtained from other sources outside the tax preparation process.

"Overall, early indicators and unit results show our tax strategy is on track," Chief Executive Brad Smith said in a prepared statement. "While we faced some initial challenges as a result of a change to our desktop product lineup, we took swift action in response to our customers' feedback. While doing so, we continue to take proactive measures to navigate a heightened sense of concern about tax fraud in the American tax system.

Revenue in the latest period edged up to $808 million, exceeding the company's expectations for revenue of $780 million to $800 million.

Intuit, also known for Quicken and QuickBooks, has diversified through a variety of acquisitions. In June, the company bought mobile payment provider Check for about $360 million. Previously, it struck deals for document service DocStoc and tax-return helper GoodApril.

For the current quarter, the company forecast per-share earnings of $2.70 to $2.75 and revenue of $2.075 billion to $2.15 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a per-share profit decline of 19% to $2.88 and revenue decrease of 7% to $2.23 billion.

For the period ended Jan. 31, Intuit reported a loss of $66 million, or 23 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $37 million, or 13 cents a share. Excluding stock-based compensation and other items, the per-share loss from continuing operations was six cents, compared with a year-earlier earnings of two cents. The company expected a loss excluding items of 11 cents to 13 cents a share.

Intuit also affirmed its guidance for the year ending in July.

Write to Tess Stynes at [e-mail]

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