Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) posted a narrower quarterly loss than Wall Street projected, mainly due to double-digit revenue growth at its small business group on strength in connected services.
The Mountain View, California-based company said net loss narrowed to $64 million or $0.21 per share for the first quarter from $70 million or $0.22 per share in the corresponding period of last year. Non-GAAP net loss per share also narrowed to 10 cents from 12 cents.
Revenue rose 12 percent to $594 million, as revenue at its small business group segment grew 13 percent. This segment has now posted double-digit growth for seven consecutive quarters, Intuit said.
Analysts, on average, polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to lose 12 cents per share on revenue of $580.66 million.
"We've consistently delivered strong total Small Business Group revenue results, which are benefiting from the ongoing shift from desktop to online services," said Neil Williams, Intuit's chief financial officer.
Looking ahead for the second quarter, Intuit sees expects non-GAAP earnings per share in the range of $0.43 to $0.47 on revenue between $1 billion and $1.02 billion. Analysts expect earnings of $0.43 per share on revenue of $1.0 billion.
For the full year, the company still expects non-GAAP earnings per share in the range of $2.85 to $2.94 on revenue between $4.185 billion and $4.285 billion. Analysts expect earnings of $2.90 per share on revenue of $4.23 billion.
Intuit shares, which have been trading in the 52-week range between $39.87 and $56.46, closed Thursday's regular trading session at $51.75, down 3.1 percent. In extended trading, the stock lost 1.45 percent to $51.00.