INTU
The market heard “beat” and said “yeah, but…”
Intuit just turned in a solid fiscal Q3 2026: revenue came in at $8.56 billion, ahead of the $8.53 billion expected, and adjusted EPS landed at $12.80 versus the $12.28 Wall Street had penciled in. The company also said fourth-quarter revenue should grow about 11% to 12%, with adjusted EPS of $3.56 to $3.62 — both above estimates.
And yet, the stock got smoked, falling 20.5% to $305.77. Why? Because investors weren’t just looking at the beat — they were looking at what’s under the hood. Intuit also said it plans to cut 17% of its workforce to simplify the organization, which is a polite corporate way of saying, “We’re rearranging the furniture while the house is still standing.”
Analysts did the classic ‘nice quarter, still lowering the bar’ move
The post-earnings reaction on Wall Street was basically a chorus of: good job, now let’s lower our spreadsheets.
- KeyBanc kept an Overweight rating but cut its target from $520 to $450.
- Oppenheimer stayed at Outperform and slashed its target from $558 to $406.
- Stifel held Buy and dropped its target from $500 to $375.
- Barclays kept Overweight and trimmed its target from $540 to $443.
- RBC held Outperform and cut its target from $600 to $500.
That’s a lot of target cuts for a company that still beat expectations. Translation: analysts still like the story, but they’re getting a little less enthusiastic about how fast the next act will run.
Why you should care
For investors, this is the annoying part of growth stocks: you can beat estimates, guide above consensus, and still get punished if the market thinks the premium valuation is running ahead of the actual business momentum. Intuit’s AI pitch is still intact, but the stock is now being asked to prove that the next leg of growth can justify the price tag.
Big picture: Intuit didn’t break the story — it just reminded everyone that even good companies can get treated like they forgot to do their homework.