Intuit Reports 1 Percent Growth in Total TurboTax Units Through Feb. 12
TurboTax Online Records 16 Percent Growth in February; Company Reiterates Full-year Revenue Guidance
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq:INTU) today released the first of three season-to-date updates for its fiscal year 2011 consumer tax offerings. Through Feb. 12, total TurboTax federal units were up 1 percent compared to the same period last year. Also through Feb. 12, TurboTax Online units were up 6 percent, while desktop units decreased 5 percent compared to the same period last year.
TurboTax Online units surged in early February, growing 16 percent during the period from Feb. 1-12 versus the comparable prior-year period, and total federal units grew 11 percent in the same two-week span.
"We continue to see the tax season shifting out," said Dan Maurer, senior vice president and general manager of Intuit's consumer group. "That's even more evident this year because the IRS didn't begin accepting certain tax returns until mid-February. As we move into the full season, momentum is really picking up, driven primarily by strong online filing. These positive trends support our confidence that we will achieve the results we expected when we set our guidance for the year."
As part of the company's second-quarter earnings announcement, Intuit today also reiterated full-year Consumer Tax revenue growth guidance of 10 to 13 percent and company revenue growth guidance of 8 to 11 percent. Further details are available in the second-quarter earnings release issued today.
Season-to-date TurboTax Federal Unit Data
Feb. 1-12, 2011
Comparable Change Change Versus
Season Through
Prior-Year Year-Over- Comparable
Feb. 12, 2011
Period Year Prior-Year
Period
TurboTax 4,317,000 4,080,000 -5% 0%
Desktop
Turbo Tax Web 6,049,000 6,442,000 6% 16%
Sub-total
TurboTax 10,366,000 10,522,000 2% 12%
Units
TurboTax Free
File 604,000 532,000 -12% -1%
Alliance
Total TurboTax
10,970,000 11,054,000 1% 11%
Units
Note: Unit data through Feb. 12, 2011 include returns held for customers prior
to IRS acceptance.
Intuit will issue additional tax season updates in March and April.
About Intuit Inc.
Intuit Inc. is a leading provider of business and financial management solutions for small and mid-sized businesses; financial institutions, including banks and credit unions; consumers and accounting professionals. Its flagship products and services, including QuickBooks(R), Quicken(R) and TurboTax(R), simplify small business management and payroll processing, personal finance, and tax preparation and filing. ProSeries(R) and Lacerte(R) are Intuit's leading tax preparation offerings for professional accountants. Intuit Financial Services helps banks and credit unions grow by providing on-demand solutions and services that make it easier for consumers and businesses to manage their money.
Founded in 1983, Intuit had annual revenue of $3.5 billion in its fiscal year 2010. The company has approximately 7,700 employees with major offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, India and other locations. More information can be found at www.intuit.com.
Cautions About Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including revenue growth guidance for Intuit and its Consumer Tax segment and Intuit's prospects for the current tax season. Because these forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, there are important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in the forward-looking statements.
These factors include, without limitation, the following: inherent difficulty in predicting consumer behavior; further delay in the IRS's ability to accept e-filed returns for certain tax filers; difficulties in receiving, processing, or filing customer tax submissions; consumers may not respond as we expected to our advertising and promotional activities; product introductions and price competition from our competitors can have unpredictable negative effects on our revenue, profitability and market position; governmental encroachment in our tax businesses or other governmental activities or public policy affecting the preparation and filing of tax returns could negatively affect our operating results and market position; we may not be able to successfully innovate and introduce new offerings and business models to meet our growth and profitability objectives, and current and future offerings may not adequately address customer needs and may not achieve broad market acceptance, which could harm our operating results and financial condition; business interruption or failure of our information technology and communication systems may impair the availability of our products and services, which may damage our reputation and harm our future financial results; as we upgrade and consolidate our customer facing applications and supporting information technology infrastructure, any problems with these implementations could interfere with our ability to deliver our offerings; any failure to properly use and protect personal customer information and data could harm our revenue, earnings and reputation; if we are unable to develop, manage and maintain critical third party business relationships, our business may be adversely affected; increased government regulation of our businesses may harm our operating results; if we fail to process transactions effectively or fail to adequately protect against potential fraudulent activities, our revenue and earnings may be harmed; any significant offering quality problems or delays in our offerings could harm our revenue, earnings and reputation; our participation in the Free File Alliance may result in lost revenue opportunities and cannibalization of our traditional paid franchise; the continuing global economic downturn may continue to impact consumer and small business spending, financial institutions and tax filings, which could negatively affect our revenue and profitability; year-over-year changes in the total number of tax filings that are submitted to government agencies due to economic conditions or otherwise may result in lost revenue opportunities; our revenue and earnings are highly seasonal and the timing of our revenue between quarters is difficult to predict, which may cause significant quarterly fluctuations in our financial results; our financial position may not make repurchasing shares advisable or we may issue additional shares in an acquisition causing our number of outstanding shares to grow; our inability to adequately protect our intellectual property rights may weaken our competitive position and reduce our revenue and earnings; our acquisition and divestiture activities may disrupt our ongoing business, may involve increased expenses and may present risks not contemplated at the time of the transactions; our use of significant amounts of debt to finance acquisitions or other activities could harm our financial condition and results of operation; and litigation involving intellectual property, antitrust, shareholder and other matters may increase our costs.
More details about these and other risks that may impact our business are included in our Form 10-K for fiscal 2010 and in our other SEC filings. You can locate these reports through our website at http://www.intuit.com/about_intuit/investors. Forward-looking statements are based on information as of Feb. 17, 2011, and we do not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statement or other information in this press release.
Unit Data and Estimates Used
The unit numbers reported are based on weekly reports received by Intuit from its retailers and distributors as well as the number of units provided directly by Intuit. The numbers included in these updates are preliminary and include estimates, including estimates of sales by merchants that do not report their sales to Intuit. Although Intuit takes steps to verify the reliability of the unit data, Intuit believes that errors in the data reported by its retailers and distributors may impact its reported retail unit numbers on an immaterial basis.
Intuit, the Intuit logo and TurboTax are registered trademarks and/or registered service marks of Intuit Inc. in the United States and other countries.
Source: Intuit Inc.
Released February 17, 2011