For its fiscal fourth quarter, reported Tuesday, Intuit (No. 231 on the Fortune 500) posted revenue of $4.354 billion, ahead of Wall Street’s $4.268 billion estimate, with earnings per share of $4.03 versus the $3.58 analysts expected. That capped a fiscal year in which the company crossed $20 billion in annual revenue for the first time, beating guidance and consensus across every metric.

The growth engine was Intuit’s “Big Bets”—Assisted Tax, Money and Mid-Market—which collectively grew 34% and now account for 30% of total revenue. Yet investors focused less on what Intuit accomplished than on what comes next. Shares closed down 3.37% at $357.46, then fell roughly 9% more in after-hours trading to $323.94 after Intuit issued fiscal 2027 guidance calling for revenue of $23.28 billion to $23.51 billion, below Wall Street’s $23.72 billion estimate.

The paradox: Intuit is deliberately accepting a near-term hit to revenue per customer in one of its biggest businesses in exchange for something it believes matters more over time—faster customer growth. The company attributed the expected deceleration to a projected decline in the desktop ecosystem, softness at Mailchimp, and a decision to accept lower average revenue per customer in TurboTax upfront to accelerate acquisition.

CEO Sasan Goodarzi framed the guidance cut as a strategic reset. “I’m resetting expectations for the company because this is the perfect time to do it, where we can play offense,” he told analysts. Goodarzi pointed to two priorities: continuing to scale the Big Bets, which he expects to remain Intuit’s fastest-growing businesses, while reaccelerating new-customer acquisition—a muscle he acknowledged had atrophied as Intuit built out its agentic “financial intelligence layer” platform.

“We’re really doubling down in core areas where I’m personally dissatisfied and hold myself accountable for the lack of performance, which is DIY tax, and on the low end in the business group,” he said.

Years ago, he noted, TurboTax grew customers at double-digit rates, and the business group grew customers north of 20%. Intuit believes it can invest in its fastest-growing businesses while rebuilding the customer-acquisition engine in its core franchises.

AI with context

In my conversation with CFO Sandeep Aujla, he described the strategy as a “reset to reaccelerate,” calling fiscal 2026 “a testament to our strategy” while acknowledging the pivot ahead. “At a $20 billion-plus scale, we have to be able to do both,” Aujla said.

That extends to AI. Intuit believes its expanding AI capabilities can help defend its core businesses against generalized AI tools. Aujla pointed to Intuit Intelligent Chat for mid-market businesses as an example. The company’s argument: AI alone isn’t the differentiator; the advantage comes from combining AI with the domain expertise embedded in Intuit’s existing workflows. In highly regulated, high-stakes areas, customers need more than a general-purpose AI model.

A generalized LLM might answer a business question, but Intuit wants to be the system that understands the context behind it, he said.

In fiscal 2027, Intuit is predicting slower growth while it spends to acquire customers, betting it can generate more value over time. If it sacrifices revenue per customer today, it needs to show customer growth accelerating enough to make up the difference. Aujla said the company is prepared to keep investing for that outcome.

Sheryl Estrada
Sheryl.Estrada@fortune.com

Leaderboard

Ruba Minhas was promoted to CFO of The Washington Spirit, a professional women's soccer team based in Washington, D.C. that plays in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Minhas previously served as Spirit’s VP of finance, a role in which she helped transform financial systems and processes. Before joining the Washington Spirit, Minhas spent more than a decade in senior finance roles across the sports and entertainment industry, including VP of financial planning and analysis at UBS Arena and in finance leadership positions at The Madison Square Garden Company and Broadridge Financial Solutions. 

Jill Pemberton was appointed CFO of RaceTrac, Inc., a convenience store chain with gas stations. Pemberton joins RaceTrac, Inc. from LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, where she most recently served as CFO for the company’s North America region. She succeeds Karla Ahlert, who served as RaceTrac, Inc.’s CFO from 2020, and was recently named the company’s first chief administrative officer, a new senior leadership role. Pemberton has held senior finance roles at Viacom, Johnson & Johnson, H.J. Heinz and Delta Air Lines.

Big Deal

NFP's 2026 U.S. Executive Benefits Trend Report, based on a survey of 273 executive benefits decision-makers, finds a planning gap: while 81% of organizations say they can't afford to lose top talent, 49% have no executive benefits strategy in place to manage upcoming leadership transitions.

That disconnect is especially pronounced around succession, where 62% of employers call it a key focus, yet formal continuity plans remain rare, particularly among mid-market firms with limited HR infrastructure. 

Regulatory shifts under SECURE Act 2.0 are pushing more companies toward nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) plans, and the stakes are highest in financial services, where 71% expect succession planning to intensify even though only one in four firms offer financial advisory support after an NQDC payout.

Other findings of the report show that 94% of organizations are worried about the economy, 79% cite rising cybersecurity threats, and just half feel confident managing data-security risk as AI becomes embedded in benefits administration.

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