Intuit Shares Popped: What You Need to Know

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Intuit (NAS: INTU) surged close to 13% in early trading after reporting better-than-expected fiscal-fourth-quarter results and initiating a $0.15-per-share quarterly dividend.

So what: The maker of personal finance and tax preparation software said Q4 revenue rose 10%, to $593 million, enough to transform last year's $0.05-per-share loss into a $0.02-a-share gain on an adjusted basis. Analysts were expecting a breakeven quarter on $583.1 million in revenue, according to data compiled by Yahoo! Finance.

Now what: Unfortunately, early enthusiasm for those numbers hasn't held, and the stock is up just 7% as of this writing. A broad tech sell-off touched off by Hewlett-Packard's (NYS: HPQ) decision to exit the consumer PC and device business has taken its toll. But it also doesn't change the truth that, at 17 times forward earnings, resurgent Intuit looks like a reasonable value. Do you agree? Would you buy at these levels? Weigh in using the comments box below.

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At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributorTim Beyersis a member of theMotley Fool Rule Breakersstock-picking team. He didn't own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this article at the time of publication. Check out Tim'sportfolio holdingsandFoolish writings, or connect with him onGoogle+or Twitter, where he goes by@milehighfool. You can also get his insightsdelivered directly to your RSS reader.Try any of our Foolish newsletter servicesfree for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe thatconsidering a diverse range of insightsmakes us better investors. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.

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