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The software provider has enjoyed double-digit year-over-year percentage revenue growth for the past four quarters. And some forecasts have double-digit year-over-year percentage earnings growth in each of the next three years. Though analysts' EPS estimates for the most recent quarter have slipped over the past month, analysts on average recommend buying shares.

Expectations

Analysts predict that Intuit will report per-share earnings of $2.48 for the quarter and say that its revenue totaled $1.96 billion. That would be up from $2.33 per share and $1.85 billion in sales in the same period of last year. Note that the EPS estimate is a penny less that it was 60 days ago. And Intuit's EPS results have not fallen short of analysts' consensus estimates in the past 10 quarters. The positive surprise in the second quarter was $.06 per share, or 13.3%.

Back in that second-quarter report, the company said its profit rose 61.6% year over year to $118 million or $0.39 per share. Revenue rose 16.1% to $1.02 billion, which also surpassed consensus expectations. Intuit said small businesses benefited from an improving economy and consumer tax revenue for the company's software was strong for the first month of the 2011 tax season. The company also raised its annual earnings forecast to $2.90 to $2.97 per share, compared to the $2.90 per share Wall Street view.

The full-year forecast now has EPS up 14.9% from the previous year to $2.95, as well as revenue 9.7% higher to $4.2 billion. And analysts so far expect to see year-over-year growth of both per-share earnings and revenues for the fourth quarter.

The Company

Intuit provides business and financial management solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, financial institutions, accounting professionals and consumers, primarily in the United States, Canada, India, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. The company's offerings include QuickBooks financial and business management software and TurboTax income tax preparation products and services. The company was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif. It is a component of the S&P 500 and has a market cap of $16.4 billion.

Competitors include Microsoft (MSFT), Salesforce.com (CRM), and Nuance Communications (NUAN), as well as H&R Block (HRB). Salesforce.com is expected to post double-digit year-over-year percentage EPS and sales revenue growth on Thursday. Nuance topped both EPS and sales estimates when it reported last week. H&R Block is expected to report earnings and sales declines for the most recent quarter, which included tax season.

During the three months that ended in April, Intuit launched a consumer banking app for the iPad and said it would acquire business software company Demandforce. Also, Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn (LNKD), joined its board of directors.

Performance

Intuit's long-term earnings per share growth forecast is 14.5% and its price-to-earnings ratio is lower than the industry average. Its operating margin is higher than the industry average. Short interest is 6.4% of the float. Fourteen of 21 analysts who follow the stock recommend buying shares; none recommend selling them. Their mean price target is more than 11% higher than the current price.

At $55.49, shares are about 6% higher than at the beginning of the year. The stock briefly reached a multiyear high of $62.18 in February. Because of the recent pullback -- about 8% in the past month -- the share price is below the 50-day moving average. Over the past six months, the stock has outperformed H&R Block, Nuance Communications, and Salesforce.com, but underperformed the broader markets.

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This column highlights the most interesting and useful business and financial commentary for consumers from around the Web every Wednesday.
Twitter: @wont_tweet_ever

This column highlights the most interesting and useful business and financial commentary for consumers from around the Web every Wednesday.
Twitter: @wont_tweet_ever

MINYANVILLE ORIGINAL The Facebook (FB) effect (the market euphorically embracing a new, possibly disruptive technology) has been around for some time. Without it we would likely not have seen the early investment success of many other names -- think Yelp (YELP), Groupon (GRPN), Angie's List, and Zynga (ZNGA), just to name a few.

(One could argue the "success" of Groupon, but there's no doubt that the company has already made early investors a lot of money. I also think it's too early to declare Groupon dead, but that is another article/investment discussion.)
Many stocks are going to look a lot cheaper the minute Facebook starts trading. At the high end of the IPO price range it's already sporting a $100 billion-plus valuation (actually close to $125 billion with increased allocation), a price-to-sales multiple exceeding 25x, and frankly I don't know if the price earnings ratio is meaningful, but it would be roughly 55 for the calendar year 2011 It's not negative and that's something.

According to the latest S-1 filed with the Securities Exchange Commission, Facebook's growth is in the 45% range. However, I think this might be a bit sandbagged and I expect to see Facebook's growth accelerate again. Even so, I think it's fair to say the days of 100% growth are gone.

As a comparison, when Google (GOOG) first traded, it carried a 14x multiple to sales and was still producing 100% growth. Clearly, Google was in an earlier growth phase and frankly a better deal on a valuation perspective. However, that doesn't mean Facebook is a bad deal.

In my view, while Facebook is done growing by triple digits, I also think it may be able to grow at a fairly strong rate (say 30-50%) for an extended period of time. If I'm correct and Facebook grows strongly for an extended period of time, it will either grow into its valuation or at least justify it.

Again for some comparables, both Baidu (BIDU) and VMware (VMW) have never traded at cheap valuations but have also sustained growth and have justified their early pricing premiums. For its part, Baidu is still trading at 17x sales nearly six years following its public offering. Personally, I'd much rather invest in Facebook at 25x sales than Baidu at 17x.

The question is, can I catch Facebook anywhere close to 25x sales.

MINYANVILLE ORIGINAL The Facebook (FB) effect (the market euphorically embracing a new, possibly disruptive technology) has been around for some time. Without it we would likely not have seen the early investment success of many other names -- think Yelp (YELP), Groupon (GRPN), Angie's List, and Zynga (ZNGA), just to name a few.

(One could argue the "success" of Groupon, but there's no doubt that the company has already made early investors a lot of money. I also think it's too early to declare Groupon dead, but that is another article/investment discussion.)
Many stocks are going to look a lot cheaper the minute Facebook starts trading. At the high end of the IPO price range it's already sporting a $100 billion-plus valuation (actually close to $125 billion with increased allocation), a price-to-sales multiple exceeding 25x, and frankly I don't know if the price earnings ratio is meaningful, but it would be roughly 55 for the calendar year 2011 It's not negative and that's something.

According to the latest S-1 filed with the Securities Exchange Commission, Facebook's growth is in the 45% range. However, I think this might be a bit sandbagged and I expect to see Facebook's growth accelerate again. Even so, I think it's fair to say the days of 100% growth are gone.

As a comparison, when Google (GOOG) first traded, it carried a 14x multiple to sales and was still producing 100% growth. Clearly, Google was in an earlier growth phase and frankly a better deal on a valuation perspective. However, that doesn't mean Facebook is a bad deal.

In my view, while Facebook is done growing by triple digits, I also think it may be able to grow at a fairly strong rate (say 30-50%) for an extended period of time. If I'm correct and Facebook grows strongly for an extended period of time, it will either grow into its valuation or at least justify it.

Again for some comparables, both Baidu (BIDU) and VMware (VMW) have never traded at cheap valuations but have also sustained growth and have justified their early pricing premiums. For its part, Baidu is still trading at 17x sales nearly six years following its public offering. Personally, I'd much rather invest in Facebook at 25x sales than Baidu at 17x.

The question is, can I catch Facebook anywhere close to 25x sales.