Even if the rest of the economy looks weak, Intuit painted an optimistic picture for its year ending July 31. At this week's earnings conference call, company executives said they expected overall revenue would grow by 8 percent to 11 percent, consumer revenue by 10 percent to 13 percent, and revenue from the accounting professionals segment--its Lacerte and ProSeries business--by 4 percent to 7 percent. That came as the company's earnings for fiscal 2010 topped all of Wall Street's estimates.
The company reported net income of $537 million for the year just ended, an increase of 18 percent from $457 million in fiscal 2009. Revenue for 2010 was $3.46 billion, an 11-percent increase from $3.11 billion a year earlier. Intuit closed with a strong sales effort in the fourth quarter as revenue came in at $574 million, an 18-percent hike from $447 million a year ago. It closed with a loss of $48 million, narrowed from a loss of $71 million in last year's fourth quarter. Intuit typically does not make money in the quarter after tax season ends.
In the consumer tax area, Intuit says it is taking market share from retail stores and given its projections of revenue growth of 10 percent to 13 percent for the current fiscal year, it expects that to continue. "The fact is that consumers want to file their taxes digitally," Smith said in answer to an analyst's question. Consumers proved that as Intuit sold 13.7 million federal online units, a 19.2 percent increase from 10.4 million units in last year's corresponding period. Retail federal TurboTax units sold decreased to 6.2 million, compared to 6.3 million.
The company appeared fairly optimistic for its professional tax side which had a 6 percent increase in revenue growth for 2010 and it expects another 4 percent to 7 percent on top of that for fiscal 2011. Intuit received $1.15 billion from this source in the most recently ended year, compared to $996 billion a year ago, the first time it crossed the $1 billion threshold. However, reported sales of professional software units sold were reported unchanged at $106,000.
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards. Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind
