8/23...INTU Loss Narrower Than Forecast
By Duncan Martell
PALO ALTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Intuit Inc., the maker of Quicken and TurboTax personal finance and tax-preparation software, reported a fourth-quarter loss from operations that was narrower than forecast, but for the entire year profits rose 35 percent.
Intuit (NasdaqNM:INTU - news) said that for the fiscal fourth quarter ended July 31, it had a loss excluding gains from the sale of investments of $8.2 million, or 4 cents a share, compared with a loss excluding gains from the sale of investments of $16.6 million, or 8 cents, a year ago.
On that basis, the results bested the consensus forecast for a loss of 9 cents a share, according to a First Call/Thomson Financial poll of analysts. In trading after the close, Intuit shares rose as high as 49 after falling 3/16 to 46-1/16 in the regular session. The stock has risen 73 percent in the last 12 months.
Because of strong sales ahead of tax season, Intuit's strongest periods are the January and April quarters. And for the first time, Intuit's annual sales topped $1 billion, up 16 percent over 1999, driven by continued strong sales of its Quicken, TurboTax and QuickBooks software. Internet revenue more than doubled in the year to $294 million, or 27 percent of sales. Intuit executives also said the next fiscal year will be strong.
``We expect an even better year in fiscal 2001,'' Steve Bennett, president and chief executive told analysts Tuesday on a conference call. Intuit said on the call it expects 2001 sales to rise 22 percent and that pro forma operating income will increase in the low 30-percent range.
Intuit's pro forma operating income rose 13 percent to $154.7 million in 2000 from $137.5 million for 1999.
In the past two years, Intuit has sought to establish itself as the leading provider of financial services and accounting, payroll and tax software for small businesses and consumers, all provided over the Internet. At the same time, Intuit said that while online usage of its software -- accessed through a browser -- is growing at a rapid clip, it is not unduly hurting sales of its prepackaged software.
``Almost 80 percent of the Web tax preparation customers had not previously used TurboTax desktop products,'' Bennett said. ``We saw minimal cannibalization.''
In an interview, Bennett said he was particularly pleased with its position in servicing the small business market. ``We have a big advantage over those who complete with us because we have 3 million registered users and make money,'' Bennett said.
Three of its eight Internet businesses are now profitable, Bennett said on the call.
Including pretax gains on the sale of investments, Mountain View, Calif.-based Intuit had profits of $17.15 million, or 8 cents a share, compared with $262.98 million, or $1.29 a share. The year-ago quarter included pretax gains on the sale of investments of $510.5 million.
Sales in the quarter declined, as expected, to $162.3 million from $168.3 million, due to the closing of 22 branches as part of its acquisition of Rock Financial, lower overseas sales because of the timing on European product launches and Y2K sales skewing revenue for Quicken and its accounting software QuickBooks into the early part of last year.
For fiscal 2000, Intuit said profit excluding gains from the sale of investments rose to $134.2 million, or 64 cents a share, from $99.6 million, or 50 cents. The year-ago quarter also excluded gains from the sale of investments. Sales rose 16 percent to $1.09 billion from $940.0 million. |
