Loading...

AI And Cloud Integration Will Transform Digital Finance

Published
18 Jul 24
Updated
09 Feb 26
Views
896
n/a
n/a
AnalystConsensusTarget's Fair Value
n/a
Loading
1Y
-34.1%
7D
-4.1%

Author's Valuation

US$777.8550.9% undervalued intrinsic discount

AnalystConsensusTarget Fair Value

Last Update 09 Feb 26

Fair value Decreased 1.26%

INTU: OpenAI Alliance And AI Adoption Will Support Future Agentic Platform Usage

Narrative Update on Intuit

Analysts have trimmed their price target on Intuit by about US$10 to reflect slightly lower revenue growth assumptions and a modestly lower future P/E multiple. They still note potential benefits over time from AI driven tax and software demand and the OpenAI partnership.

Analyst Commentary

Recent research coverage on Intuit reflects a mix of optimism around long term growth drivers and caution around execution risks and expectations already embedded in the share price.

Bullish Takeaways

  • Bullish analysts see artificial intelligence as a key growth driver for Intuit, both through its own products and through the OpenAI collaboration, which they expect to support software demand over time.
  • Some expect upside potential to current estimates, arguing that concerns about AI related risks to Intuit's business are overdone relative to how the company is positioned.
  • The OpenAI partnership is viewed as expanding Intuit's reach, with access to a large user base that could support adoption of Intuit's AI driven offerings and justify premium valuation multiples if execution is solid.
  • Goldman Sachs highlights AI adoption as a positive tailwind for the broader software market and sees Intuit as a beneficiary if the company can convert that trend into sustained product demand.

Bearish Takeaways

  • Bearish analysts point to a strong tax rebound in the prior year as a tough comparison, which could make it harder for Intuit to show clean growth trends and support higher valuation multiples.
  • Some argue that expectations around future performance are already elevated, which could limit upside if Intuit simply meets, rather than exceeds, current consensus assumptions.
  • There is caution around Intuit's assisted tax share, with at least one major firm preferring to see clearer evidence of share gains before becoming more constructive on the stock.
  • Concerns about tougher set ups in coming years reflect the view that execution will need to be very strong across tax and software to support current price targets and offset comparison headwinds.

What's in the News

  • Media coverage highlights that recent advancements in AI tools have pressured software and data stocks broadly, with Intuit referenced in this context as part of the wider software group (Wall Street Journal).
  • Intuit announced a new multi-year partnership with Affirm, making Affirm the exclusive pay over time solution within QuickBooks Payments. The partnership is aimed at helping small and mid-market businesses improve invoice conversion and cash flow by offering flexible payment plans to their customers.
  • Checkr entered a multi-year preferred partnership with Intuit to embed background checks directly into QuickBooks Online Payroll and Intuit Enterprise Suite, with the goal of giving small and mid-sized businesses a more integrated hiring and onboarding workflow.
  • Intuit opened a new TurboTax flagship store in New York City's SoHo neighborhood as part of a nationwide rollout of nearly 600 Expert Office locations and 20 TurboTax stores. The initiative combines its AI driven tax platform with in person expertise for personal and small business filers.
  • Intuit and BDO Canada announced a partnership that uses QuickBooks Online Accountant, automation and AI driven insights to provide Canadian small and mid-sized businesses with more data driven financial advice and real time access to performance metrics.

Valuation Changes

  • Fair Value: Trimmed slightly from US$787.76 to US$777.85 per share, reflecting minor adjustments to key assumptions.
  • Discount Rate: Adjusted marginally higher from 8.53% to 8.54%, indicating a very small change in the required return used in the analysis.
  • Revenue Growth: Assumed long term revenue growth moderated slightly from 12.80% to 12.74%.
  • Net Profit Margin: Target net profit margin increased slightly from 23.46% to 23.49%.
  • Future P/E: Assumed forward P/E multiple reduced modestly from 42.18x to 41.66x.

Key Takeaways

  • Accelerating AI-driven platform adoption and expanding financial services offerings drive automation, customer retention, and multi-product cross-selling for sustained margin and revenue growth.
  • Penetration into mid-market segments and integration across consumer tax and credit products expand Intuit's reach, fueling durable customer acquisition and diversification.
  • Sluggish Mailchimp growth, international headwinds, limited pricing power, Credit Karma's cyclicality, and slow adoption of integrated AI initiatives present risks to sustained revenue expansion.

Catalysts

About Intuit
    Provides financial management, compliance, and marketing products and services in the United States.
What are the underlying business or industry changes driving this perspective?
  • The accelerating adoption of Intuit's AI-driven all-in-one platform-including virtual teams of AI agents and human experts-positions the company to consolidate customers' tech stacks, drive automation of workflows, and unlock substantial ROI for customers, supporting higher average revenue per customer (ARPC) and net margin expansion over time.
  • Intuit's rapid penetration into the fast-growing mid-market segment (serving customers with $2.5M–$100M in revenue and tapping into an $89B–$90B TAM), bolstered by quarterly product innovations and expanding partnerships with top accounting firms, sets up a durable multi-year revenue growth vector through new customer acquisition and cross-sell opportunities.
  • Breakthrough adoption and continued innovation in TurboTax Live, which is experiencing growth well above long-term expectations, alongside seamless integration with Credit Karma, expands Intuit's addressable consumer base as individuals seek more digital, DIY, and assisted tax solutions-directly supporting recurring revenue growth and increasing upsell potential.
  • Strong momentum in adjacent financial services offerings (payments, payroll, bill pay, QuickBooks Capital, and banking integrations) increases customer stickiness, enhances multi-product adoption, and diversifies Intuit's revenue streams-positively impacting both top-line growth and customer lifetime value.
  • Intuit's ability to leverage secular trends-like the proliferation of digital-native SMBs, gig and freelance work, and increased demand for financial literacy tools-underpins sustained growth in both customer numbers and revenue as more consumers and businesses migrate to cloud-based platforms for all-in-one financial management.

Intuit Earnings and Revenue Growth

Intuit Future Earnings and Revenue Growth

Assumptions

How have these above catalysts been quantified?
  • Analysts are assuming Intuit's revenue will grow by 12.7% annually over the next 3 years.
  • Analysts assume that profit margins will increase from 20.5% today to 22.9% in 3 years time.
  • Analysts expect earnings to reach $6.2 billion (and earnings per share of $21.54) by about September 2028, up from $3.9 billion today. However, there is some disagreement amongst the analysts with the more bullish ones expecting earnings as high as $7.3 billion.
  • In order for the above numbers to justify the analysts price target, the company would need to trade at a PE ratio of 46.5x on those 2028 earnings, down from 48.3x today. This future PE is greater than the current PE for the US Software industry at 36.2x.
  • Analysts expect the number of shares outstanding to decline by 0.53% per year for the next 3 years.
  • To value all of this in today's terms, we will use a discount rate of 8.5%, as per the Simply Wall St company report.

Intuit Future Earnings Per Share Growth

Intuit Future Earnings Per Share Growth

Risks

What could happen that would invalidate this narrative?
  • Mailchimp's continued revenue softness and complexity for SMB users remains a drag on growth, with recovery to double-digit growth projected to be gradual and subject to execution risk-potentially dampening segment revenue and overall earnings growth if improvements stall or churn persists.
  • Growth in online ecosystem paying customers was only 5% year-over-year, with stated headwinds in Mailchimp and international segments, demonstrating possible saturation risks or weakness in expanding international markets, which could suppress long-term revenue growth and net new customer acquisition.
  • The company expects a lower pricing uplift in fiscal 2026 compared to fiscal 2025 across desktop and services offerings; as pricing actions have contributed to growth, this pullback could limit future ARPC (Average Revenue Per Customer) expansion and margin improvement.
  • Credit Karma's business, although strong this year, is recognized by management and analysts as being more cyclical than other Intuit segments and heavily exposed to consumer lending and credit markets, making its contribution to revenue and earnings volatile and potentially sensitive to macroeconomic slowdowns or tighter lending environments.
  • While Intuit is investing aggressively to consolidate tech stacks and use AI agents for automation and cross-sell, the success of these efforts depends on overcoming customer inertia and fragmentation (i.e., businesses reluctant to switch from disparate apps); slow adoption or pushback could limit cross-sell rates, ARPC, and platform monetization, with prolonged ramp times impacting future revenue scalability.

Valuation

How have all the factors above been brought together to estimate a fair value?
  • The analysts have a consensus price target of $819.73 for Intuit based on their expectations of its future earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors. However, there is a degree of disagreement amongst analysts, with the most bullish reporting a price target of $971.0, and the most bearish reporting a price target of just $600.0.
  • In order for you to agree with the analyst's consensus, you'd need to believe that by 2028, revenues will be $26.9 billion, earnings will come to $6.2 billion, and it would be trading on a PE ratio of 46.5x, assuming you use a discount rate of 8.5%.
  • Given the current share price of $670.89, the analyst price target of $819.73 is 18.2% higher.
  • We always encourage you to reach your own conclusions though. So sense check these analyst numbers against your own assumptions and expectations based on your understanding of the business and what you believe is probable.

Have other thoughts on Intuit?

Create your own narrative on this stock, and estimate its Fair Value using our Valuator tool.

Create Narrative

How well do narratives help inform your perspective?

Disclaimer

AnalystConsensusTarget is a tool utilizing a Large Language Model (LLM) that ingests data on consensus price targets, forecasted revenue and earnings figures, as well as the transcripts of earnings calls to produce qualitative analysis. The narratives produced by AnalystConsensusTarget are general in nature and are based solely on analyst data and publicly-available material published by the respective companies. These scenarios are not indicative of the company's future performance and are exploratory in nature. Simply Wall St has no position in the company(s) mentioned. Simply Wall St may provide the securities issuer or related entities with website advertising services for a fee, on an arm's length basis. These relationships have no impact on the way we conduct our business, the content we host, or how our content is served to users. The price targets and estimates used are consensus data, and do not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and they do not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Note that AnalystConsensusTarget's analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

Read more narratives