Mountain View, Calif. — Buoyed by strong retail sales of its TurboTax software that offset weaker-than-expected sales for its flagship QuickBooks product, Intuit Inc. posted a 16 percent rise in second-quarter profits to $149.4 million for the period ended Jan. 31.
Revenues for the accounting software maker, based here, increased 14 percent, to $636.6 million, versus the same period one year ago. Intuit said second-quarter revenue of its retail TurboTax product, which spiked 36 percent to $130 million, helped offset slower-than-projected gains in QuickBooks, which, despite generating an 8 percent rise over its second quarter last year to $101 million, were below company projections of $110 million to $120 million during what has traditionally been one of the company’s strongest quarters.
Intuit attributed the sluggish unit numbers to a drop in lower-priced QuickBooks Basic and Pro units that was not offset by upgrades.
