Summary
Intuit closed its fiscal third quarter, ended April 30, 2024, with revenue of $6.7 billion and $13.1 billion for the first nine months. Operating income reached $3.10 billion in the quarter, up 11.8 percent, and $3.78 billion for the nine months, up 21.0 percent. Net income was $2.39 billion, up 14.5 percent, while nine-month net income rose 30.0 percent to $2.98 billion. Diluted earnings per share came in at $8.42, up 14.1 percent, and at $10.51 for the nine-month period, up 29.6 percent. Operating margin was 46.1% in the quarter and 28.9% for the nine months.
The Small Business and Self-Employed segment carried the quarter. Segment revenue grew 18 percent, and Online Ecosystem revenue rose 19 percent. Online Services revenue advanced 20 percent on growth in payments, payroll, and Mailchimp. QuickBooks Online Accounting revenue grew 19 percent on customer growth, higher effective prices, and mix shift. Consumer Group revenue rose 9 percent, helped by a shift toward higher-priced offerings such as TurboTax Live and by higher effective prices. Credit Karma revenue grew 8 percent, led by Credit Karma Money, credit cards, auto insurance, and personal loans. ProTax revenue increased 3 percent.
The tax season tells a more mixed story. For the season through July 31, 2024, Intuit expects TurboTax Live revenue to grow 17 percent, roughly 30 percent of total Consumer Group revenue. Average revenue per return should rise about 10 percent, TurboTax Live units 12 percent, and TurboTax Online paying units about 2 percent. Total TurboTax units are expected to decline 1 percent because of share loss with pay-nothing and lower average revenue per return customers, and TurboTax share of total IRS returns should fall about 80 basis points. Customers paying nothing are expected to exceed 10 million, down from over 11 million.
Cash generation stayed strong. Operating cash flow was $3.95 billion in the quarter, up 10.0 percent, and $4.47 billion for the nine months, up 6.3 percent. Capital expenditures fell 30.7 percent to $61 million in the quarter and 5.5 percent to $208 million for the nine months. Deferred revenue, current portion only, was $843 million, up 1.7 percent. The company held about $4.7 billion in cash and investments and $6.0 billion in debt as of April 30, 2024. It repurchased $584 million of shares and had $2.1 billion left on its repurchase authorization. The board approved a quarterly dividend of $0.90 per share, a 15 percent increase.
Management raised full fiscal year 2024 guidance. Total revenue growth is now expected at approximately 13 percent, up from previous guidance of 11 to 12 percent. GAAP operating income growth is guided to approximately 21 to 22 percent, and GAAP diluted earnings per share growth to approximately 28 to 29 percent. For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, the company guided revenue growth of approximately 13 to 14 percent. Full-year segment guidance calls for Small Business and Self-Employed growth of approximately 18 percent, Consumer Group growth of approximately 7 to 8 percent, ProTax growth of approximately 6 to 7 percent, and Credit Karma growth of approximately 2 percent.
Risks are familiar. Intuit competes in markets where AI is reshaping financial technology, and its strategy depends on developing and deploying AI across its platform. It also faces potential government encroachment in its tax businesses, cybersecurity and fraud threats, reliance on third-party relationships, and a competitive market for skilled employees. Credit Karma's results depend on partner lending behavior, and economic uncertainty continues to influence it. Consumer and ProTax revenue is heavily seasonal, concentrated from November through April. Tax policy is another variable. The Inflation Reduction Act's corporate alternative minimum tax took effect for Intuit in fiscal 2024, though the company does not expect an impact this year, and mandatory capitalization of research and development costs under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has raised cash tax payments, including a $710 million payment in the first quarter tied to deferred fiscal 2023 taxes.
Forecast
Reported figures
GAAP, from SEC filings| Metric | Q3 FY2024 | Q2 FY2024 | QoQ | Q3 FY2023 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $6.74B | $3.39B | +99.0% | $6.02B | +11.9% |
| Research & development | $671.0M | $678.0M | -1.0% | $604.0M | +11.1% |
| Sales & marketing | $1.42B | $1.02B | +39.1% | $1.20B | +18.0% |
| General & administrative | $355.0M | $344.0M | +3.2% | $332.0M | +6.9% |
| Total operating expenses | $3.63B | $3.02B | +20.4% | $3.24B | +12.1% |
| Operating income (loss) | $3.10B | $369.0M | +741.5% | $2.78B | +11.8% |
| Operating margin | 46.1% | 10.9% | +35.2 pp | 46.2% | -0.1 pp |
| Net income (loss) | $2.39B | $353.0M | +576.8% | $2.09B | +14.5% |
| Net margin | 35.5% | 10.4% | +25.0 pp | 34.7% | +0.8 pp |
| Diluted EPS | $8.42 | $1.25 | +$7.17 | $7.38 | +$1.04 |
Risks
Intuit's strategy centers on an AI-driven expert platform, but competitors and mega-platforms may deploy AI to reduce demand for its products, and flawed or biased AI, latency, or regulatory uncertainty around AI could harm offerings and reputation. MD&A says AI is transforming financial technology and creating a more dynamic and highly competitive environment.
The IRS launched a limited pilot of a free direct online tax filing system for the 2024 tax filing season, and the IRS Free File Program operates under an agreement scheduled to expire in October 2025. Government-funded direct filing could make the federal government a publicly funded competitor and materially reduce Intuit's tax revenue.
Intuit hosts large amounts of sensitive tax, financial, and personal data, and its single-identity ecosystem means a security incident could expose increased amounts of customer data. The filing says cyberattacks are increasingly likely and could cause material reputational harm, litigation, and regulatory scrutiny.
Fraudulent activities by malicious third parties are increasing in sophistication across Intuit's tax, payroll, payments, lending, and personal finance businesses. A loss of confidence by customers or government agencies could lead tax authorities to refuse electronic filing, significantly harming revenue and earnings.
Credit Karma depends on financial institution partners, and MD&A states economic uncertainty continues to influence their lending behaviors. Credit Karma segment revenue increased 1% year to date while segment operating income decreased 7% year to date, partly due to higher marketing expenses.
Intuit faces intense global competition for employees with software as a service, fintech, data science, AI, and security skills, especially in California and India. Equity awards may become less effective if the stock price underperforms talent competitors, and failure to retain key employees could slow its AI-driven platform strategy.
As of April 30, 2024, Intuit had $6.0 billion of indebtedness outstanding, including $4 billion of senior unsecured notes issued in September 2023. The debt increases vulnerability to downturns and requires cash flow for service, with covenants restricting subsidiary indebtedness and requiring specified financial ratios.
At April 30, 2024, Intuit had $13.8 billion in goodwill and $6.0 billion in net acquired intangible assets. Annual goodwill impairment testing occurs in the fourth fiscal quarter, and impairment charges could significantly fluctuate net income.
Evolving privacy, data protection, and AI regulations, including GDPR, new U.S. state privacy laws, and cross-border transfer uncertainty, may require operational changes, limit use of third-party tools, and expose Intuit to fines and penalties.
Tax products have rigid development timetables and must incorporate late tax law and form changes. Errors or launch delays could cause compliance errors for taxpayers, trigger accuracy guarantee reimbursements, and lead to customer loss and reputational harm.
Consumer and ProTax revenue is heavily concentrated from November through April, and unanticipated changes to federal and state tax filing deadlines may exacerbate quarterly fluctuations. MD&A expects seasonality to continue to significantly impact quarterly financial results.
Intuit relies on third-party partners, cloud providers, app stores, credit reporting bureaus, and financial institutions, some on a sole-source or limited-source basis. Failure or adverse policy changes by these partners could disrupt delivery of offerings and reduce revenue.
SaaS KPIs
All quarters →Total Customers
Online Ecosystem revenue
Online Services revenue
QuickBooks Online Accounting revenue
Summary, forecast, risks and KPIs are extracted from INTUIT INC.'s SEC filings for Q3 FY2024 (10-Q / 10-K and the 8-K earnings release); GAAP figures in the summary are checked against the reported XBRL data. They can contain errors; the filings are authoritative. Processed Oct 1, 2026.