Financial management solutions provider Intuit Inc. (INTU) said Thursday its third quarter profit increased from last year, due mainly on growth at its Small Business Group and other segments as well. Earnings for the quarter topped Street estimates, while revenue missed expectations.
Moving forward, Intuit tightened its outlook for fiscal year 2012. For the fourth quarter, the company now expects a loss compared to a profit forecast earlier.
Intuit said its third quarter revenue rose 5 percent from last year.
Small Business Group revenue was up 11 percent compared to last year. Within this Group, Financial Management Solutions recorded growth in QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Enterprise, and Employee Management Solutions reported 19 percent growth in Online payroll subscribers. At Payment Solutions, merchant customers grew 13 percent.
Consumer Tax segment revenue grew 3 percent year-over-year, and Account Professionals segment was up 5 percent. Financial Services revenue edged up 2 percent from last year, and other business grew 6 percent.
"We took several steps to evolve our portfolio in the third quarter, which included several transactions in line with our broader financial principles," said CFO Neil Williams.
"Our pending purchase of Demandforce and the acquisition of AisleBuyer will strengthen our small business segment...," added Williams.
Mountain View, California-based Intuit reported third-quarter net income of $734 million or $2.42 per share, compared to $688 million or $2.20 per share in the prior year.
Excluding items, adjusted earnings for the quarter were $761 million or $2.51 per share, compared to $730 million or $2.33 per share last year.
On average, 21 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $2.48 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Intuit reported quarterly revenue of $1.945 billion, compared to $1.85 billion last year. Seventeen analysts estimated revenue of $1.96 billion.
Intuit repurchased $207 million of its common stock in the third quarter 2012. At the end of the quarter, the company had authorization to use cash of up to an additional $1.8 billion for stock repurchases through August 2014.
The company has approved a new quarterly cash dividend of $0.15 per share to be paid on July 18 to shareholders as on July 10.
Intuit now expects fourth-quarter net loss of $0.07 to $0.05 per share and adjusted earnings of $0.05 to $0.07 per share. Earlier, Intuit expected fourth quarter earnings of $0.02 to $0.04 per share and adjusted earnings of $0.06 to $0.08 per share. The company forecast revenue of $647 million to $662 million, representing a growth of 9 to 12 percent.
Analysts currently expect earnings of $.06 per share and revenue of $652.25 million for the fourth quarter.
Intuit now forecasts fiscal year 2012 net earnings of $2.44 to $2.49 per share and adjusted earnings of $2.92 to $2.97 per share. Revenue is now expected between $4.205 billion and $4.22 billion, representing a growth of 9 to 10 percent.
Intuit earlier estimated fiscal year 2012 net earnings of $2.43 to $2.50 per share and adjusted earnings of $2.90 to $2.97 per share. Revenue was earlier forecast between $4.185 billion and $4.285 billion, a growth of 9 to 11 percent.
Analysts currently expect earnings of $2.95 per share on revenue of $4.22 billion.
INTU closed Tuesday at $54.41, down $0.69 or 1.25%, on a volume of about 3 million shares. In after hours, the stock slid $0.41 or 0.75%. In the past year, the stock has traded in a range $39.87 - $62.33.
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