Earnings preview: Intuit (INTU) likely to face demand and costs in Q1

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) is slated to report its first-quarter 2020 earnings results on Thursday after the market closes. The payroll solutions provider will be hurt by higher costs and expenses while the top line will be benefited from strong demand for QuickBooks Online and TurboTax Live.

The artificial intelligence (AI)-driven expert platform strategy will be aiding in the company’s performance for the quarter. The top line will be benefited by the growths in the Small Business and Self-Employed Group, and the Consumer Group. Also, the company continues to prioritize online services to deliver more value to its customers.

Read: Cisco Systems Q1 earnings review

Intuit faces intense competition in all of its businesses, both domestically and internationally. The company expects that the competitive interest and expertise in many of the markets over the past few years will continue to increase in the near future.

The company’s growth is increasingly dependent on the strength of its business relationships and its ability to continue to develop, manage and maintain new and existing relationships with third-party partners. The company will benefit from the strong brand recognition and large user base of the distribution platforms to attract new customers.

Analysts expect the company’s earnings to drop by 13.80% to $0.25 per share while revenue will jump by 10% to $1.12 billion for the first quarter. The company has surprised investors by beating analysts’ expectations in all of the past four quarters. The majority of the analysts recommended a “hold” rating with an average price target of $280.56.

Read: Splunk Q3 earnings preview

For the fourth quarter, Intuit posted a wider loss due to higher costs and expenses despite a 15% growth in the top line. The results were driven by the company’s products including QuickBooks Online and TurboTax Live.

For the first quarter, the company expects revenues to rise by 9-11% to $1.105-1.125 billion and adjusted EPS of $0.23-0.25. For the full year, Intuit anticipates revenue of $7.44-7.54 billion and an adjusted EPS of $7.50-7.60.

Get access to timely and accurate verbatim transcripts that are published within hours of the event.