11/22....INTU....shares taxed by lower sales forecast
By Bloomberg News
November 22, 2000, 1:30 p.m. PT
update Shares of Intuit, which makes Quicken personal finance software, fell as much as 13 percent Wednesday after the company reduced its forecast for fiscal second-quarter sales.
At market close, the shares were down $4.31, or 9 percent, at $43.88, after reaching a low of $41.75 earlier in the day. The stock had already fallen 54 percent since reaching a record high of $90 in January.
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Consumers are delaying purchases of TurboTax tax-preparation software because more people plan to use Intuit's Web-based tax products to file over the Internet, chief executive Steve Bennett said late Tuesday. If so, that will push some sales expected in the second quarter into the third quarter, which ends in April.
Jefferies & Co. analyst Craig Peckham, who maintained his ''buy'' rating on Intuit, concurred with Bennett. Intuit is selling more products directly to consumers and fewer to retailers, Peckham said, and that means more sales will be recorded in its April quarter.
Intuit previously had more sales in January when it sold TurboTax software to stores, said Peckham, who predicts the stock will reach $75 in a year.
''Fundamentally, Intuit is very well positioned for the 2001 tax season,'' said Matthew Fassnacht, an analyst with J.P. Morgan who has a "market perform'' rating on Intuit
But ABN Amro analyst Glenn Greene downgraded shares of Mountain View, Calif.-based Intuit to ''add'' from ''buy."
The company released its first-quarter earnings Tuesday.
Second-quarter sales will reach $455 million to $465 million, Bennett predicted. Intuit is on track to meet its sales forecast of $1.32 billion to $1.34 billion for fiscal year 2001, he added.
New editions of TurboTax will go on sale in early December, Bennett said. The company is also working on an update of its QuickBooks accounting software for small businesses and may introduce an online version soon, Bennett said |
