Wells Fargo Securities believes Intuit Inc. is well positioned to drive double-digit revenue and earnings growth over the coming years. The belief was predicated on share gains in the stable and highly profitable consumer tax business and large greenfield opportunity in the QuickBooks online business from expansion into self-employed and international markets.
Wells Fargo noted that Intuit took advantage of the increasing cloud adoption and rapid rise of smartphones by reinventing itself as an online platform. Thus, the firm noted that the company capitalized on the adoption of cloud solutions by previously non-consuming users.
The firm also noted that Intuit’s QuickBooks Online user base has swelled to 80 percent of the total QuickBooks users in 2017 from a mere 24 percent in 2012.
Wells Fargo Securities estimates QBO subscribers of 3.359 million in 2018, up 14 percent year over year. This compares to the guidance of 37–45-percent growth in 2018 and the 2017 actual growth of 57.5 percent. The firm said its QBO estimate implied a QBO self-employed subscriber growth of 64.8 percent in 2018, a notable deceleration from 358.8 percent in 2017.