Financial software maker Intuit reported better-than-expected first-quarter results, posting double-digit revenue growth and improving margins as demand across its online ecosystem remained strong. Shares traded higher as investors weighed the company’s cautious tone for the current quarter against its reaffirmed full-year outlook.
BNN Bloomberg spoke with Rishi Jaluria, managing director of software research at RBC Capital Markets, about how the results frame Intuit’s fiscal 2026 trajectory and why AI adoption, mid-market growth and new platform integrations are shaping the firm’s longer-term opportunity set.
Key Takeaways
- Intuit posted 18 per cent revenue growth as demand strengthened across its online ecosystem and productivity improved.
- The company reaffirmed full-year guidance, signalling confidence in stable demand and continued operational efficiency.
- Mid-market adoption accelerated, with strong growth in advanced accounting and enterprise solutions.
- Consumer platforms performed well, led by gains in Credit Karma and steady TurboTax engagement.
- New AI integrations, including a partnership with OpenAI, are expected to broaden user reach while maintaining control of customer data.
Read the full transcript below:
LINDSAY: Meanwhile, financial software firm Intuit beat first-quarter estimates but struck a cautious tone for the next quarter. Intuit is known for TurboTax, QuickBooks and Credit Karma. For more, let’s find out from Rishi Jaluria, managing director for software at RBC Capital Markets. And of course, Barry Schwartz is still joining us as well. Rishi, it’s good to have you. Thanks for taking the time.
RISHI: Thanks so much for having me. Always great to be here.
LINDSAY: OK, so revenue and earnings beat. What do you think drove the quarter this time around?
RISHI: Yeah, look, I think it was a pretty broad-based beat, and that’s always great to see in a business like Intuit that’s pretty diversified. You saw good strength in the consumer business, including Credit Karma. QuickBooks Online, which is their accounting software, did really well. Mailchimp remains a drag, but it was a pretty broad-based beat. You’re seeing potential for them to get towards their long-term targets. And by the way, I think one thing that’s starting to help them is their AI-forward strategy. Not to say they’re monetizing AI in a huge way today, but it’s definitely helping in terms of getting customers on the platform, driving usage and adoption, and it really feels like this name is set up for continued double-digit growth for a while.
LINDSAY: Is that why you think investors seem pleased with the results? Guidance moving forward is a little mixed, but does that AI spending and those pledges help?
RISHI: Yeah, I think it does. And look, the guidance still has the issue of the drag from Mailchimp, but if you strip out Mailchimp, numbers are definitely better than what people feared. And obviously some of this hinges on what happens with the tax season in calendar year 2026, but I think people are generally pleased you’re seeing better-than-expected growth. The guidance still seems conservative. Management is striking a pretty optimistic tone around their ability with AI over time. Again, I think that’s more of a longer-term growth driver than something you hang your hat on immediately, like a Microsoft-type name, but I think it’s a combination of all of these that gets investors excited.
BARRY: Rishi, you’ve seen a lot of software companies under pressure over the last few months. Here in Canada we have Constellation Software, where its stock has been absolutely brutalized, as well as Salesforce and Adobe. But there’s no near-term impact whatsoever from AI for these companies. In fact, some are showing accelerating revenue growth — some maybe 18 per cent revenue growth for Intuit. That tells me no one’s switching. Everybody’s using their products. What is it going to take to change the narrative on some of these software companies, especially Intuit?
RISHI: Yeah, I think there are two things that need to happen. And I’m just coming back from our own global tech conference that RBC hosted in New York, so this is very top of mind. But there are two things that need to happen. No. 1 is we need to see further acceleration in growth. Most of these names are seeing decelerating growth, and we need to see a bit of acceleration. And if we look at management tones and net new ARR trends, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that we could start to see a little acceleration heading into next year. But the second thing is we need to get through this “AI is the death of software” narrative. That’s really what’s going on — concerns that either OpenAI is going to subsume some of this functionality, or we’ll see situations where there are no barriers to entry and people build this themselves. But I think as incumbent vendors — whether it’s an Intuit or a HubSpot in sales and marketing software — the more they can show their own AI solutions generate real use cases and value for customers, and that customers use them more often and are eventually willing to pay for them, the better. I think it’s a crawl-walk-run approach. Our framework is innovation, utilization, monetization. When we talk about AI, it takes a long time for it to show up in revenue. But once people start to believe these incumbent vendors have good AI products that customers find valuable and will pay for, I think that starts to drive sentiment more positively.
LINDSAY: You have a buy rating on Intuit. What do you like about the stock? We’ve talked a lot about its investments into AI and the future of AI at Intuit. What else do you like?
RISHI: Yeah, I think there are really two things I like. Obviously the AI roadmap and innovation are fantastic. But within core TurboTax, they have a strong position and there’s room to grow, especially if you think about upgrading tiers or the Live business, where you have human agents — and maybe over time AI agents — that can help you or even do your taxes for you. And on the QuickBooks side, I really like the move upmarket. Still smaller companies, but the Intuit Enterprise Suite goes after more complicated businesses — companies with 100 people, which typically hasn’t been their bread and butter in the past. I think it gives them great expansion opportunities over time. I think we can see more international growth as well. There are a lot of great growth drivers combined with their market leadership in both segments. And then you layer on the option of AI and what they can do with AI agents given all the data and context they have, and I think there’s a very compelling long-term story here.
BARRY: In the past, Intuit has been quite acquisitive. Do you see more acquisitions coming? And I see with your buy target you expect a healthy upside. Are you using multiples that may be last year’s multiples? Clearly the market doesn’t want to pay those types of multiples right now for software companies.
RISHI: Yeah, absolutely. And look, I’m a very long-term-focused investor. Multiples are a shortcut. I always think about what a robust and thoughtful long-term discounted cash flow tells us, and that’s what gets me to the price target. In terms of M&A, outside of tuck-ins — small technological tuck-ins that bolster their AI capabilities — I think investors would be fine with that. What investors don’t want are large transformational acquisitions, anything the size of Credit Karma or Mailchimp. Mailchimp is still a drag on the business. It’s a tough slog. They talk about returning it to double-digit growth, but the market is skeptical, rightfully so. So from here, I think any M&A would be more focused on accelerating the AI roadmap. I don’t expect major acquisitions like those two.
LINDSAY: OK. Rishi Jaluria joining us live this morning. Thanks so much for your time. Really appreciate it.
RISHI: Thank you.
LINDSAY: And that was Rishi Jaluria, managing director covering software at RBC Capital Markets.
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This BNN Bloomberg summary and transcript of the Nov. 21, 2025 interview with Rishi Jaluria are published with the assistance of AI. Original research, interview questions and added context was created by BNN Bloomberg journalists. An editor also reviewed this material before it was published to ensure its accuracy and adherence with BNN Bloomberg editorial policies and standards.
