TurboTax maker Intuit forecasts third-quarter revenue growth above estimates

(Reuters) - Accounting software maker Intuit forecast third-quarter revenue growth above Wall Street estimates on Thursday, expecting a surge in demand for its AI-enabled financial management tools for small businesses.

With the tax season underway and the bulk of tax filings expected to be made in the third quarter, customers would turn to products offered by companies like Intuit for their tax preparation needs.

Intuit provides financial management and compliance products such as its tax-preparation software TurboTax, personal finance portal Credit Karma and accounting software QuickBooks to small businesses.

Intuit forecast its third-quarter revenue growth to be in the range of 10% to 11%, compared with analysts' average estimate of 9.7% growth, according to LSEG data.

Shares of the Mountain View, California-based company were down about 1.5% in extended trading after it said revenue from its consumer group fell 5%, to $492 million in the second quarter, compared with analysts' average estimate of $537.5 million.

The company, which competes with H&R Block, Oracle's NetSuite and Microsoft's Dynamics 365 Platform, forecast adjusted earnings per share for the third quarter in the $9.31 to $9.38 range, below the estimate of $9.69.

It posted revenue of $3.39 billion for the second quarter ended Jan. 31, in line with analysts' estimates. Revenue in its Small Business and Self Employed group rose 18%, to $2.2 billion in the reported quarter.

Excluding items, it earned $2.63 per share in the second quarter, beating the estimate of $2.30 per share.

Intuit made its TurboTax tax preparation tool available within its personal finance portal and accounting software last month, to tap a wider pool of users this tax season.

(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)