Intuit reports strong Q4, shares slip on soft guidance
Intuit posted mixed fourth quarter and fiscal 2016 revenue Tuesday after the bell.
The personal and small business financial software maker reported Q4 net loss of $56 million million, or 16 cents per share (statement).
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Non-GAAP earnings were 8 cents per share on top of revenue of $754 million, up 8 percent year-over-year.
Wall Street was bracing a loss of two cents per share with $732.7 million in revenue.
For the full year, the company reported $4.7 billion in revenue on earnings of $3.78 per share. Analysts were expecting revenue of $4.67 billion on earnings of $3.67 a share.
While these numbers top estimates, Intuit's tepid revenue guidance for the current quarter sent its shares trending downward after hours.
Intuit said it expects Q1 EPS ranging from a penny a share to 3 cents a share, which falls well below analyst estimates for 13 cents a share. Revenue is expected to range from $740 to $760 million, which would also miss estimates of $772.96 million.
As for the rest of Intuit's portfolio, the company said it increased QuickBooks Online subscribers by 41 percent to end the year with 1,513,000 paid subscribers. Intuit said sales from its consumer tax products increased 10 percent, with TurboTax Online units growing 15 percent and total TurboTax units growing 12 percent.
Intuit's QuickBooks Self-Employed product also saw subscriber growth on the up, ending the year with 85,000 users versus just 25,000 a year ago. The company's online payroll customers grew 17 percent for the year.
"This was a strong year from start to finish," said Brad Smith, Intuit's chairman and chief executive officer. "One of our strategic goals is to be the operating system behind small business success, and our small business ecosystem remains vibrant. Total QuickBooks Online subscribers grew to more than 1.5 million, and small business online ecosystem revenue grew 25 percent for the year."