New York, Feb 28, 2026, 12:24 (EST) — The market has closed.
Intuit Inc jumped 3.7% to close at $409.03 on Friday, standing out as the S&P 500 declined 0.43%. Shares of the TurboTax parent traded at more than twice their 50-day average volume, according to MarketWatch data.
QuickBooks parent Intuit projected third-quarter adjusted earnings between $12.45 and $12.51 per share, coming in short of the $12.95 analysts were looking for. The company pointed to heavier marketing and customer support spending as it hunts for more business during the U.S. tax rush. Shares dropped roughly 4% after hours on the news. CFO Sandeep Aujla told Reuters the extra outlay is focused on boosting growth for both assisted tax offerings and QuickBooks. He also said Intuit pays OpenAI and Anthropic for AI features, clarifying, “not paying them revenue share.” Intuit’s rivals include H&R Block and Oracle’s NetSuite. The IRS began accepting federal returns Jan. 26, with filers facing an April 15 deadline, Reuters noted. Reuters
Intuit tends to see its numbers swell around this time, with tax season boosting demand. That’s why even a slight profit guidance miss is enough to shake the stock. Heading into Monday, investors want to know if ramped-up marketing will actually pull in enough new customers to balance out the margin squeeze.
Intuit reported a 17% jump in second-quarter revenue, hitting $4.651 billion, with adjusted earnings landing at $4.15 per share. “Outstanding second quarter,” CEO Sasan Goodarzi said. Looking at business lines, Credit Karma pulled in $616 million, up 23%, while TurboTax posted a 12% gain to $581 million. The company stuck to its full-year adjusted earnings guidance of $22.98 to $23.18 per share and revenue between $20.997 billion and $21.186 billion. For the third quarter, Intuit sees revenue coming in between $8.52 billion and $8.55 billion. The board bumped up the quarterly dividend to $1.20 a share; buybacks reached $961 million. Intuit Inc.
Oppenheimer’s Scott Schneeberger lowered his price target for Intuit to $558 from $696 on Friday, but maintained his Outperform rating. The move comes as the stock faces pressure, with concerns mounting over potential AI competition.
Markets shut for the weekend, but next week brings a busy slate: target tweaks and tax-season channel checks are on deck. Friday’s gains appeared tied to shifting positions after the guidance landed.
Here’s the risk: costs go up, but Intuit doesn’t land new customers. That sets up a profit squeeze for the back half, while the debate drags on among investors over AI’s real impact on the economics of tax and bookkeeping software.
Intuit’s board set a quarterly cash dividend at $1.20 per share, according to a filing. That payout goes to shareholders on record as of April 9, with payment scheduled for April 17.
