NEW YORK, March 10, 2026, 2:47 PM EDT
Intuit shares dropped roughly 3.9% Tuesday, despite a fresh “buy” rating from Rothschild & Co Redburn’s Omar Sheikh. The stock was sitting near $455 in the afternoon, after Redburn bumped its target to $700 from the previous $670. StreetInsider.com
For Intuit, the April quarter usually delivers the biggest boost, thanks to U.S. tax season. But just last month, the company flagged adjusted third-quarter earnings between $12.45 and $12.51 a share—coming in shy of Wall Street’s forecasts—as it ramps up marketing and customer support spending before the April 15 tax deadline.
Redburn sounded more optimistic than the shares suggested. Analysts highlighted QuickBooks and TurboTax as standout picks when it comes to software that can weather AI headwinds, citing Intuit’s access to deep data, tangled tax and accounting regulations, and a loyal customer base that’s tough to pry away. That should give Intuit the muscle to maintain its pricing and deliver growth, the firm wrote.
Intuit’s January quarter numbers came in strong: revenue jumped 17% to $4.65 billion, and adjusted earnings hit $4.15 per share. CEO Sasan Goodarzi said the company is “defining a new category at the intersection of AI and human intelligence.” CFO Sandeep Aujla echoed that optimism, sticking with the outlook for double-digit revenue gains and fatter profit margins this year. Intuit Inc.
AI has become the linchpin of that strategy. Back on Feb. 24, Intuit announced a multi-year deal with Anthropic aimed at rolling out tailored AI agents for mid-sized companies, and integrating its tax, finance, and marketing software with Claude. Aujla noted that Intuit’s AI agents — essentially automated tools handling chores for users — are already being used by over 3 million customers.
Tax filing isn’t the only battleground. Last month, Reuters pointed out that Intuit faces off with H&R Block in the tax prep arena. The same story noted that in January, software stocks like Adobe and Salesforce took a hit—investors worried that fresh AI offerings might chip away at established subscription models.
The shadow of that broader concern hasn’t gone away. In a February note, JPMorgan’s Dubravko Lakos-Bujas and his team said the market had baked in “worst-case AI disruption scenarios” for software stocks—outcomes they argued were unlikely within the coming three to six months. Reuters
Still, not everything’s settled. Intuit warned that Mailchimp probably won’t hit double-digit growth again until after fiscal 2026, and it pointed to ongoing threats—competition, changing tax rules, and how well its AI-driven products actually work. Its reach is big, with about 100 million users split between TurboTax, QuickBooks, Credit Karma, and Mailchimp. That didn’t keep shares from sliding Tuesday, as investors pressed for firmer evidence that a strong tax season and fresh AI partnerships will do more than nudge revenue—they want to see real profit gains.
