Intuit Hits 52-Week High: INTU @ $77.35

Zacks Equity Research writes:  Shares of Intuit Inc. (INTU - Snapshot Report) hit a new 52-week high on Jan 7 of $77.35, eventually closing at $77.06. The closing share price represents a decent one-year return of about 25.06%. Average volume of shares traded over the last three months stands at approximately 1,777K.

Some of the optimism is due to the recovery in the U.S. small business employment, which grew in Dec 2013. This marked the second month of job growth in the sector which was stalled from May through Oct 2013, as reported by Intuit.

Intuit is a leading provider of business and financial management solutions to small and medium-sized businesses (SMB), consumers, accounting professionals and financial institutions.

Moreover, Intuit’s acquisition strategy is expected to positively impact the company. The synergies from the acquisitions of Demandforce, Prestwick Services, LLC and Docstoc, Inc. will help the company to gain traction in the SMB segment.

Additionally, the higher adoption rate of its cloud-based services and products is another positive factor. Moreover, the company’s accelerated share buyback program would aid the bottom line.

The company also witnessed positive estimate revisions for fiscal 2013. Over the last 60 days, Intuit has witnessed five upward revisions compared to one downward revision for fiscal 2013. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2013 went up by 3 cents to $3.17.

However, competition from leading payroll solution provider Paychex Inc. (PAYX - Snapshot Report) in the SMB arena, seasonality of Intuit’s tax business and the ongoing uncertainty in the economy concern us.

Currently, Intuit has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Apart from Intuit, investors can also look at stocks like Western Digital (WDC - Analyst Report) and Broadridge Financial Solutions (BR - Snapshot Report). While Western Digital sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Broadridge Financial has a Zacks Rank #2.