Earnings Results: Intuit stock soars toward record after acquisitions fuel earnings beat, increased guidance

Intuit Inc. shares jumped more than 8% and headed toward record highs in after-hours trading Thursday, after the software company raised its annual guidance while integrating recent acquisitions. Read More...

Intuit Inc. shares jumped 9% and headed toward record highs in after-hours trading Thursday, after the software company raised its annual guidance while integrating recent acquisitions.

Intuit INTU, -0.96% reported fiscal first-quarter earnings of $228 million, or 82 cents a share, on sales of $2.01 billion, up from $1.32 billion a year ago. After adjusting for stock-based compensation and other costs, the company known for accounting software like TurboTax and QuickBooks reported earnings of $1.53 a share, up from 94 cents a share a year ago and far ahead of analysts’ estimates. Analysts on average had projected adjusted earnings of 97 cents a share on sales of $1.81 billion, according to FactSet.

Intuit also added more than $1 billion to its revenue guidance for the full year, crediting the $12 billion acquisition of MailChimp, which closed on Nov. 1, as well as last year’s purchase of Credit Karma, which reported record quarterly revenue of $418 million Thursday. Intuit now expects adjusted full-year earnings of $11.48 to $11.64 a share on sales of $12.17 billion to $12.3 billion, after previously stating $11.05 to $11.25 a share on revenue of $11.05 billion to $11.2 billion.

“We continue to see strong momentum and proof that our big bets are further positioning us for durable growth in the future, and we’re delighted that MailChimp has joined Intuit,” Chief Executive Sasan Goodarzi said in a statement.

For the second quarter, Intuit guided for adjusted earnings of $1.84 to $1.88 a share with revenue growth of 73% to 74%. Analysts on average were expecting adjusted earnings of $1.54 a share on sales of $2.32 billion, which would equal growth of less than 50% from last year.

Intuit shares have been trading at records this year, and last closed at a new high on Tuesday, when shares finished the trading session at $645.76. After closing with a 1% decline at $628.94 on Thursday, shares topped $685 in the extended session.

The stock has increased 65.6% so far this year and 18.2% in the past three months. The S&P 500 index SPX, +0.34% has gained 26.4% and 6.9% in those periods, respectively.