Intuit Q1 Earnings Top Views

reported stronger-than-expected earnings for the fiscal third quarter and raised its forecast for the full year. The Mountain View, California-based company posted quarterly earnings of $501 million, or $1.78 per share, compared to $984 million, or $3.39 per share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding one-time items, the company's earnings slipped to $2.85 per share from $3.53 per share. Its revenue fell to $2.19 billion from $2.39 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $2.75 per share on revenue of $2.15 billion. The average estimate among 19 Estimize users was for earnings of $2.72 per share and revenue of $2.14 billion. Total Small Business segment revenue slipped 5 percent in the third quarter, while Consumer Tax revenue gained 4 percent in the quarter. The company ended the quarter with around $2.1 billion in cash and investments. During the quarter, Intuit repurchased $568 million of shares of stock. "We delivered a strong quarter, exceeding our company financial revenue target amidst another strong tax season and accelerating growth in our small business online ecosystem," said Brad Smith, Intuit's president and chief executive officer. "We achieved our goals in our tax business, increasing growth in the do-it-yourself software category, acquiring and retaining more customers and expanding our market share." For the fourth quarter, the company expects an adjusted loss of $0.10 to $0.12 per share on revenue of $720 million to $745 million. Analysts had projected a loss of $0.05 per share on revenue of $728.39 million. For FY15, Intuit projects adjusted earnings of $2.50 to $2.52, on revenue of $4.395 billion to $4.42 billion. The company had earlier expected earnings of $2.45 to $2.50 per share, on revenue of $4.275 billion to $4.375 billion. Intuit shares rose 0.61 percent to $104.80 in the after-hours trading session.