Intuit (INTU 0.68%) stock has been an unexpected pandemic winner, more than doubling from its March 2020 lows. It continued its positive momentum in its most recent quarter on the tailwinds of its TurboTax software and the recently acquired Credit Karma business. But investors are wondering how this tax software specialist will continue to grow. On a Fool Live episode recorded on May 26, Fool contributors Toby Bordelon and Brian Withers discuss the results of the most recent quarter and the technology that could help fuel growth in the years to come.
Toby Bordelon: This is Intuit, makers of TurboTax, which many of us may have just finished using over the last few weeks. They reported yesterday, as a matter of fact, and it was a pretty good report, the stock is not doing anything that I could tell right now, basically flat. Revenue was up 39% and operating income of 35%, both of those are year-over-year comps. Really good.
It'll be interesting to hear Credit Karma, which they acquired, you had me recognized it. But Credit Karma they acquired at the end of last year, I think November the deal closed. That business put up $315 million in revenue, which was a record for the Credit Karma business. Their first quarter with Intuit. It's working out for them. Intuit is successfully pushing this out to their users. That's a good sign.
The other thing, I looked back at the stock chart, and it was interesting to me, the stock has more than doubled since the March 2020 lows. I don't think that's something you would necessarily expect from a company like this. Why would Intuit necessarily be a good pandemic performer? But there you go. It's done quite well.
They are increasing their guidance. What I really liked to see, they ended the quarter with $4.1 billion in cash on their balance sheet. That number is relevant because their overall revenue for the quarter was about 4.2 billion. They've got as much cash sitting there as they generated in revenue for the quarter, which is really interesting. I mean, they have a boatload of cash in there relative to what they do. Might they do another deal like the Credit Karma deal, a bigger deal? Might they try to look at an acquisition? They've got the cash to do it, so that's something to watch, I think, over the next year, see what they do with that pile.
Brian Withers: Awesome, Toby. It sounds like they had a really solid quarter. Looking forward, what are Intuit's key growth engines to continue its growth for shareholders?
Bordelon: Good question. Well, the obvious one you would think that would be TurboTax. But the problem with that is they already control about 67% of that market. When you're that big, there's a limit to how much more you can grow and expanding your user base.
What's interesting though is what they're doing with that, with what TurboTax and QuickBooks. They've got this relatively new thing with live experts, with both of those software solutions. You can call in and you can do video chat with a live expert and asks questions. They're trying to push that out more and more of their virtual expert platform. I think that could be a big growth driver for them.
The other one I mentioned briefly is the Credit Karma acquisition. It's doing really well so far. I've been pleased with that. You can see some nice revenue boosts over the next year or so as they continue to push out those offerings, their existing customer base, try to integrate it more into their existing offerings.
Withers: That's great, Toby. I picture a Saturday Night Live skit where you call in to the TurboTax live desk and you get an Uber driver. [laughs].
Bordelon: You never know what's going to happen with that. But it's fascinating though, one thing that potentially does, a lot of people are reaching a point where they would prefer to have someone do those taxes for them because they don't want to deal with the tricky issues, it gets more complicated. But if Intuit can offer a connection with a live expert, who can maybe solve those one or two tricky issues for you. Maybe you stay with TurboTax, maybe you don't have to go, someone will see your taxes. So it could increase retention at the higher end with the people that have not super complicated taxes, but complicated enough that every year, like me, they ask themselves, "Why am I still doing this myself?"
Withers: I like the fact that they are experimenting, I think that's a positive sign.
