Intuit beats Q2 targets, outlook strong for Q3 tax season

Intuit reported solid second quarter financial results Thursday bolstered by strong early sales of its consumer tax offerings.

All the way up to February 20, TurboTax Online sales grew 12 percent year-over-year with more than 14 million units sold.

"Total TurboTax e-file growth of 9 percent and other third-party data indicate that we've gained significant share early in the season," said Sasan Goodarzi, EVP and GM of Intuit's Consumer Tax Group.

Overall, the personal and SMB financial software maker reported a net loss of $24 million million, or 11 cents per share (statement).

Non-GAAP earnings were 25 cents per share on top of revenue of $923 million, up 23 percent year-over-year.

Wall Street was expecting earnings of 19 cents per share with $893.23 million in revenue. Intuit's stock was up a little over three percent in late trading.

As for the rest of Intuit's portfolio, the company added more than 100,000 QuickBooks Online subscribers, bringing the total to 1,257,000 customers worldwide as of the end of January.

QuickBooks Self-Employed subscribers grew to 50,000, up from 35,000 in the last quarter. Online payroll customers by grew by 17 percent.

TurboTax overall, including the dwindling desktop segment, grew nine percent annually with nearly 19.3 million units sold through last weekend.

For the current quarter, Wall Street is expecting big results from tax season with an earnings target of $3.15 per share and $2.21 billion in revenue.

Intuit responded at the high end of the guidance range with a revenue forecast of $2.21 billion to $2.26 billion, and earnings between $3.15 and $3.20 a share.

Intuit also promised a final tax season update in April shortly after the close of the tax season.