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Motley Fool's Quarterly management conference call synopsis is at fool.com
Highlights:
Strong growth in international revenues tempered by declines in the consumer software business; quarterly earnings in-line with analysts expectations.
Quickbooks small-business accounting software up 25% YTD internationally. Despite competition from HRB's TaxCut, TurboTax still the market favorite. Three-fold increase in state tax product downloads via the internet. 85% increase in business tax products. Profits improved faster than sales dues to higher price and higher product quality leading to less need for product support personnel and fewer product returns.
Quicken stil the leading personal financial package, but Quicken sales growth slowing.
International growth, up over 40%, reflects strong growth in Japan, where acquisition of Nihon Micom established INTU as the leader in the Japanese small business accounting market.
Internet businesses, including Interactive Insurance Services, NetWorth and Quicken Financial Network, are the fastest growing segments, but still small relatively.
Interest income, at $2.8 million, up 40% due to more cash on hand.
Excluding acq charges, normalized net income for the quarter was $7.6 million or $0.16/share versus $0.15/share last year.
Nine months revenue up 11% to $504.8 million. Excluding acquisition-related charges, net income for nine months grew 17% to $45.9 million, or $0.97/share, versus $39.5 million or $0.83/share last year.
Scott Cook emphasized how important the small business accounting operation is, and that it is a world-wide opportunity to sell accounting software to small businesses everywhere, using the superior QuickBooks accounting engine. Sees the nearly 10 million Quicken user base as a pool of superior on-line customers. INTU is refocusing their attention from disc-based to Internet-based products. All current technology efforts are focused on the Internet. Fruits of that resource shift should begin to bear in the second half of CY 1997.
Finding that in small business, each new version of software blows away the market and brings the market to new levels of size. The new multi-user version of QuickBooks is expected to demonstrate that effect again.
Management is confident its substantial cash will not just sit there; an acquisition would not be surprising in the small business or consumer market.
These are just highlights, full story at fool.com
~ Doug ~ (long INTU) |
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