Is Wall Street Missing Intuit's April Guidance Boost?

Intuit Inc. INTU is likely to beat Wall Street's quarterly earnings consensus later Thursday, according to several analysts who are divided on whether the stock is worth its premium price.

The do-it-yourself tax software company changed hands recently at 104.54 up $1.21. The shares are up 13 percent year to date.

Morgan Stanley

About half the roughly 17 estimates comprising the Intuit consensus haven't changed since the company boosted its guidance April 21, according to Morgan Stanley's Jennifer Swanson Lowe.

Wall Street on average expects Intuit to post earnings $2.74 a share on revenue of $2.15 billion for its seasonally important fiscal third quarter.

But Lowe and at least three other analysts said that Intuit will exceed those expectations.

Intuit last month boosted its forecast for 2015 consumer tax revenue growth to 8 percent, from its previous estimate of between 5 percent and 7 percent.

Related Link: Intuit Now Worth $95/Share, This Analyst Says

With the company's latest forecast not fully reflected in the Street consensus, "we think it's highly likely" that Intuit will beat expectations, Lowe said.

But Lowe maintained an Underweight rating on Intuit, along with a $72 target, and said "success looks priced in."

Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank's Nandan Amladi raised his target 17 percent to $100, but maintained a Hold on Intuit, citing valuation.

Competition from recent market entrant Xerox Corp. XRX is "fairly modest," Amladi said. But he called Intuit's subscription targets "aggressive."

RBC, Raymond James

Analysts from both RBC and Raymond James raised targets on Intuit, each maintaining positive recommendations.

The company's strategy to shift to cloud-based subscriptions from desktop software products is "outpacing expectations," according to Wayne Johnson of Raymond James, who increased his target 12 percent to $118 and has a Strong Buy recommendation on Intuit.

RBC's Ross MacMillan boosted his target 18 percent to $120 and maintained an Outperform rating on the company.

"The stock isn't cheap," MacMillan said, but its price is justified by growth prospects.