The number of professional tax units sold by Intuit, which markets the Lacerte and ProSeries software packages, dropped for the second straight year, falling to 95,000 for the second quarter ended January 31, down from 97,000 a year earlier and 98,000 for the same quarter in 2007. Meanwhile revenue for those product lines dropped to $124 million for the most recently ended quarter, down $133 million a year earlier.
Revenue rose to $837 million for the most recently ended period, up 8 percent from $773 million a year earlier. While product revenue dropped to $422 million from $433 million, a rise in revenue from services more than offset that. Services revenue for the second quarter was $415 million, up 22 percent from $340 million in last year's corresponding period. Net income rose to $114 million, up 34.1 percent from $85 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2009.
The bottom line was boosted by a nearly $35 million gain on the sale of Intuit Real Estate Solutions. However, operating income from continuing operations rose to $136 million for the quarter, up from $111 million a year earlier. The company also said that the drop in revenue in the accounting arena stemmed from a shift of $9 million from the second to third quarter last year. Otherwise, the totals would have been flat.
The company's operations also showed the continuing move of consumers to the Web as it reported a 1-percent drop in the number of federal TurboTax units sold through February 13, compared to the same period last year, but a 22 percent rise in online units.