Does Intuit Inc. (INTU) have an economic moat?

MoatScan AI rates Intuit Inc. (INTU) 70/100 for moat strength, assessed across five sources of competitive advantage: network effects, switching costs, intangible assets, cost advantages and efficient scale. Intuit has a durable but not unassailable franchise built around tax preparation, small-business accounting, and adjacent financial services.

What is Intuit Inc.'s moat score?

Intuit Inc. (INTU) has a moat score of 70/100. The score is a weighted average of five pillar ratings: network effects, switching costs, intangible assets, cost advantages, and efficient scale. A higher score means the competitive advantages MoatScan AI identifies are wider and more durable.

Is INTU stock overvalued or undervalued?

MoatScan AI answers this by estimating INTU's intrinsic value with a discounted cash flow (DCF) model, then comparing that estimate to the current market price. A share price meaningfully below the estimate is flagged undervalued; meaningfully above it, overvalued. The estimate updates with each new financial analysis.

What is Intuit Inc.'s fair value estimate?

MoatScan AI derives Intuit Inc.'s (INTU) fair value per share from a discounted cash flow (DCF) model built on the company's reported financials, analyst growth forecasts, and a discount rate reflecting its cost of capital. The Financial Analysis tab shows the estimate alongside every assumption behind it.

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INTU$353.76

Intuit Inc.

Last Updated

Jun 2, 20263 months ago

Moat & Trend

Management

AI Impact

Competitive Radar

Moat Score

70/100

Executive Summary

Intuit has a durable but not unassailable franchise built around tax preparation, small-business accounting, and adjacent financial services. TurboTax and QuickBooks benefit from strong customer familiarity, deep workflow integration, and meaningful brand trust, while professional tax software and bank-feed integrations raise switching friction. However, the moat is constrained by regulatory scrutiny, periodic product commoditization, and the ability of well-funded rivals to attack with lower-cost or free alternatives. Intuit’s expanding ecosystem, AI investments, and cross-sell opportunities support durability, but the company’s advantage is narrower than a classic wide-moat software platform because its strongest businesses remain exposed to policy changes and customer dissatisfaction.

Network Effects

Ecosystem Reinforcement, Limited Virality

Pillar Strength

6.5/10

Intuit has real ecosystem effects, but they are narrower than in a true multi-sided platform. QuickBooks connects small businesses, accountants, payroll providers, payment processors, and app developers, so each additional participant increases the usefulness of the system. TurboTax also benefits from a large installed base that normalizes the product and makes support content, expert help, and community knowledge more valuable. Still, most users can multi-home across tax, accounting, banking, and marketing tools with limited penalty. The network is therefore reinforcing rather than self-reinforcing in a dominant sense. The effect supports retention and cross-sell, but it does not create an especially powerful winner-take-all dynamic.

Switching Costs

Deep Workflow Lock-In

Pillar Strength

8.5/10

Switching costs are one of Intuit’s strongest defenses. Small businesses often build years of bookkeeping history, chart-of-accounts structures, payroll links, customer files, and reporting workflows inside QuickBooks, making migration disruptive and risky. Accountants and tax preparers also accumulate familiarity, templates, and client-specific data within ProSeries, Lacerte, or ProConnect. For consumers, TurboTax stores prior-year returns and imports tax data, which lowers the effort of staying with the platform. Competitors can win new customers, but replacing an entrenched workflow usually requires time, retraining, and data conversion risk. These frictions are meaningful enough to support long customer lifetimes and pricing resilience.

Intangible Assets

Trusted Tax Brands

Pillar Strength

8/10

Intuit’s principal intangible assets are its brands, accumulated domain expertise, and trusted position in sensitive financial workflows. TurboTax and QuickBooks are widely recognized names, and in both tax and small-business accounting, trust matters because users are relying on software to handle compliance, filings, and cash-flow management. Intuit also benefits from extensive product knowledge, tax logic, and embedded user experience improvements that are difficult to copy quickly. The downside is that some brand equity has been damaged by public criticism and legal challenges around free tax filing claims. Even so, the core brands remain strong and still command premium mindshare relative to many software peers.

Cost Advantages

Scale, But Not Unbeatable

Pillar Strength

5.5/10

Intuit enjoys some cost advantages from scale, automation, and product reuse across a large installed base. Once the core software and tax logic are built, incremental delivery costs are low, and cloud distribution reduces physical overhead. Its size also supports heavier investment in R&D, AI tooling, compliance, and marketing than most niche rivals can sustain. However, this is not a decisive structural cost moat. Competitors can build credible accounting and tax products, and some alternatives compete on lower price, freemium models, or bundled ecosystem value. Intuit’s scale improves efficiency, but it does not create a cost position so far ahead that rivals cannot narrow it with capital and time.

Efficient Scale

Concentrated, Not Exclusive

Pillar Strength

6.5/10

Intuit operates in markets that are relatively concentrated, especially U.S. consumer tax software and small-business accounting, where only a few scaled players matter. That concentration gives Intuit a meaningful advantage because product credibility, compliance know-how, and distribution are expensive to replicate. In tax preparation, the category also has seasonal demand and specialized rules that favor incumbent scale. Still, the market is not a natural monopoly, and capable rivals such as H&R Block, Xero, Sage, and specialist point solutions can and do compete. The industry structure supports above-average returns, but it does not fully prevent entry. As a result, efficient scale is helpful, yet not overwhelmingly protective.

Management Quality Assessment

Evaluating leadership track record, capital allocation, and governance

Verdict

Concerning

Sasan Goodarzi has led Intuit since 2019, following a founder-built legacy that created durable tax and small-business software franchises. Under his tenure, management executed two huge, strategic acquisitions — Credit Karma for $7.1 billion and Mailchimp for $12 billion — and later used layoffs and AI spending shifts to refocus the portfolio, which shows decisiveness but only mixed capital-allocation discipline because the long-term ROIC impact of those bets is not yet clear. Insider ownership trend is unclear from the available data. CEO compensation cannot be fully benchmarked here, but repeated legal settlements and deceptive free-filing findings raise concerns that incentives have favored growth and monetization over customer trust and governance quality.

Key Highlights

Goodarzi has been CEO since 2019, and his tenure has been defined by major platform expansion through Credit Karma and Mailchimp. Those deals broadened Intuit’s reach, but they also introduced large integration and valuation risk.
Management has shown willingness to prune the portfolio, including prior divestitures of non-core businesses and the 2024 retirement of Mint into Credit Karma. That is a sign of strategic focus, though not proof of superior capital allocation.
Intuit agreed to a $141 million settlement over misleading advertisements, and federal/state scrutiny over TurboTax free-filing claims suggests management tolerated aggressive customer-facing tactics. That behavior is a governance negative because it can erode trust in a core franchise.
The company cut 1,800 jobs in 2024 and another 3,000 in 2026 while shifting resources toward generative AI. The moves indicate cost discipline, but they also show repeated restructuring after earlier growth bets.
Insider ownership trend is not clearly disclosed in the available data, and CEO pay cannot be rigorously peer-benchmarked here. No strong positive alignment signal can be verified from the provided information.

AI Impact Assessment

Evaluating how AI strengthens or disrupts existing moat pillars

AI Opportunity

6/ 10

AI Threat

6/ 10

Net AI Impact

0Neutral

Net Pressure. Intuit’s AI is primarily a moat defender: embedding generative AI into TurboTax, QuickBooks, and Credit Karma should deepen workflow integration, raise switching costs, and improve data-network effects because the company already sits on rich tax and SMB transaction data. That is real, but mostly incremental rather than structurally unique. The harder fact is that AI-native bookkeeping and tax tools can now be built on foundation models, which lowers barriers to entry in routine accounting and could commoditize parts of QuickBooks and tax prep. Intuit’s brand, compliance expertise, and integrations still matter near term, but AI narrows their relative advantage. Key uncertainty: whether rival agents can match accuracy, trust, and regulatory handling at scale.

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Last Updated

Jun 2, 20263 months ago

Target Price

Analyst Consensus

FAIR VALUE

Financial Strength

Financial Score

79/100

Executive Summary

Intuit’s standout strength is its durable, high-margin software economics: revenue has compounded steadily, operating margin has expanded, and net income and EPS are outpacing sales, while cash generation remains exceptional with robust free cash flow and strong conversion. The balance sheet is solid but not pristine, as liquidity has improved and leverage is manageable, yet meaningful debt and large goodwill and intangibles keep tangible book thin. Key ratios support this view, with profitability trending higher, debt-to-equity easing, and liquidity recovering after a mid-period dip. Growth remains healthy into FY2026, though slightly less dynamic than FY2025. Overall, Intuit presents a strong financial profile, balancing excellent earnings and cash flow quality with moderate balance-sheet caveats.

Income Statement

Revenue · Margins · Profitability

Section Score

8.5/10

Intuit shows strong, durable non-financial performance. Revenue compounded well from FY2021 to FY2025, and TTM growth of 15.0% remains healthy, though slightly below the prior year’s 15.6%, suggesting steady rather than accelerating momentum. Net income and EPS have grown faster than revenue, showing good operating leverage. Gross margin has remained very high and stable around 79–83%, while operating margin expanded to 26.1% in FY2025 and 27.5% TTM, indicating improving conversion of sales into profit. There are no major one-off distortions; other income/expense and tax rates moved, but not disruptively. Assuming a software-led tax and accounting platform, these margins are excellent versus peers. Key risks are expense growth and the need to sustain high growth without margin pressure.

Financials are in millions USD unless otherwise specified

Metric	TTM	FY 2025	FY 2024	FY 2023	FY 2022	FY 2021
Period Ending	Apr 30, 2026	Jul 31, 2025	Jul 31, 2024	Jul 31, 2023	Jul 31, 2022	Jul 31, 2021
Revenue	20,905	18,831	16,285	14,368	12,726	9,633
Revenue Growth (YoY)	14.96%	15.63%	13.34%	12.90%	32.11%	25.45%
Net Income	4,203	3,869	2,963	2,384	2,066	2,062
Net Income Growth	20.50%	30.58%	24.29%	15.39%	0.19%	12.92%
Profit Margin	21.93%	20.55%	18.19%	16.59%	16.23%	21.41%

Data as of Apr 30, 2026

Balance Sheet

Assets · Liabilities · Equity

Section Score

7.5/10

Intuit’s balance sheet is generally solid, with liquidity improving and equity steadily compounding. Total current assets rose to 14,107 in FY2025 from 9,678 in FY2024, while current liabilities also increased to 10,370, leaving positive working capital of 3,737. Cash and short-term investments were 4,552, and TTM liquidity strengthened further to 6,780. Total assets expanded to 36,958, supported by rising retained earnings and shareholders’ equity of 19,710, up from 18,436. Leverage is manageable, though total liabilities climbed to 17,248 and debt remains meaningful at 6,570. The main quality concern is the asset mix: goodwill and intangibles are large, making tangible book thin, though it is now positive on a TTM basis.

Financials are in millions USD unless otherwise specified

Metric	TTM	FY 2025	FY 2024	FY 2023	FY 2022	FY 2021
Period Ending	Apr 30, 2026	Jul 31, 2025	Jul 31, 2024	Jul 31, 2023	Jul 31, 2022	Jul 31, 2021
Total Current Assets	17,837	14,107	9,678	5,557	5,047	5,157
Total Assets	39,330	36,958	32,132	27,780	27,734	15,516
Total Current Liabilities	12,276	10,370	7,491	3,790	3,630	2,655
Total Liabilities	18,701	17,248	13,696	10,511	11,293	5,647

Data as of Apr 30, 2026

Cash Flow Statement

Operations · Investing · Financing

Section Score

8.5/10

Cash generation is strong and broadly improving, with operating cash flow rising from $3.25B in FY2021 to $6.21B in FY2025, and TTM at $7.89B, above the latest fiscal year. Free cash flow has been consistently robust, growing from $3.18B to $6.12B, with a healthy TTM margin of 37.1% despite modest CapEx. The main quality issue is heavy stock-based compensation and sizable investing outflows, especially purchases of investments and acquisitions in earlier years, but these have not prevented strong cash conversion. Capital allocation is shareholder-friendly, with substantial buybacks and dividends, though repurchases are aggressive. Overall, cash flow quality is solid, stable, and well above typical software-sector norms.

Financials are in millions USD unless otherwise specified

Metric	TTM	FY 2025	FY 2024	FY 2023	FY 2022	FY 2021
Period Ending	Apr 30, 2026	Jul 31, 2025	Jul 31, 2024	Jul 31, 2023	Jul 31, 2022	Jul 31, 2021
Operating Cash Flow	7,888	6,207	4,884	5,046	3,889	3,250
Operating Cash Flow Growth	26.35%	27.09%	-3.21%	29.75%	19.66%	34.63%
Free Cash Flow	7,755	6,123	4,693	4,836	3,732	3,178
Free Cash Flow Growth	26.65%	30.47%	-2.96%	29.58%	17.43%	34.95%

Data as of Apr 30, 2026

Key Ratios

Liquidity · Leverage · Efficiency · Returns

Section Score

7.5/10

Intuit shows a generally solid financial profile with a few balance-sheet caveats. Liquidity weakened from FY2021 through FY2025 as the quick ratio fell from 1.7 to 0.63 before recovering to 0.77 in the latest period, while the current ratio stayed above 1.0 and improved to 1.45, suggesting short-term obligations remain manageable. Leverage has eased overall, with debt-to-equity declining from 0.45 to 0.33 and net debt moving close to neutral, indicating a more conservative capital structure. Efficiency is mixed: asset turnover improved modestly but remains moderate, and no receivables or inventory turnover data is provided. Profitability is strong, with ROE, ROA, ROIC, and ROCE all trending higher again after a mid-period dip.

Ratios are dimensionless unless otherwise noted

Metric	Current	FY 2025	FY 2024	FY 2023	FY 2022	FY 2021
Period Ending	Jun 1, 2026	Jul 31, 2025	Jul 31, 2024	Jul 31, 2023	Jul 31, 2022	Jul 31, 2021
Debt / Equity Ratio	0.33	0.33	0.35	0.38	0.45	0.24
Quick Ratio	0.77	0.63	0.72	1.26	1.19	1.7
Current Ratio	1.45	1.36	1.29	1.47	1.39	1.94
ROEReturn on Equity (ROE)	22.95%	20.29%	16.60%	14.14%	15.71%	27.54%
ROAReturn on Assets (ROA)	12.43%	11.41%	10.11%	9.03%	9.66%	15.25%
ROICReturn on Invested Capital (ROIC)	14.76%	13.16%	11.43%	10.08%	11.34%	22.98%
ROCEReturn on Capital Employed (ROCE)	21.79%	19.22%	14.93%	13.06%	13.91%	24.68%

Data as of Jun 1, 2026

Growth

Revenue · EPS · Valuation · Estimates

Section Score

7.5/10

Historical results run through FY2025, while FY2026 is the analyst-covered forecast year. Revenue expanded strongly overall, with a brief slowdown in FY2023 before reaccelerating in FY2024 and FY2025; FY2026 still implies solid double-digit growth, though slightly below FY2025’s pace. EPS was more volatile early on, dipping in FY2022, then rebounding and accelerating faster than revenue in FY2024 and FY2025, suggesting margin improvement. The forward P/E compresses sharply in FY2026 versus prior years, which looks more consistent with the forecast earnings ramp. Analyst sentiment is constructive: Buy consensus, 34 analysts on targets, and a stable-to-improving recommendation mix over recent months, with mostly Strong Buy/Buy ratings and no new Sell calls.

Analyst Price Targets

Low$315-10.96%

Median$482.5+36.39%

Average$502.02+41.91%

High$921+160.35%

BuyConsensus rating based on analyst coverage

34 analysts

Recommendation Trends

Rating	May '26	Apr '26	Mar '26	Feb '26	Jan '26	Dec '25
Strong Buy	22	23	23	21	21	20
Buy	6	6	5	6	6	5
Hold	6	5	7	7	7	7
Sell	0	0	0	1	1	1
Strong Sell	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	34	34	35	35	35	33

Financial Forecast

Metric	FY 2026	FY 2025	FY 2024	FY 2023	FY 2022	FY 2021
Revenue	21.37B	18.83B	16.29B	14.37B	12.73B	9.63B
Revenue Growth	+13.48%	+15.63%	+13.34%	+12.90%	+32.11%	+25.45%
EPS	15.96	13.67	10.43	8.42	7.28	7.56
EPS Growth	+16.77%	+31.06%	+23.87%	+15.66%	-3.70%	+9.25%
Forward P/E	22.2x	34.9x	34.6x	32.9x	33.5x	45.4x

Revenue in USD · EPS per share · Price targets in USD

Data as of Jul 31, 2026 · Italic columns are analyst estimates

Fair Value Estimation

DCF · +3.3% Margin of Safety · Fairly Valued

AI Fair Value Estimate (DCF)

$365.49vs$353.76

Margin of Safety+3.3%

Fairly Valued — Trading near intrinsic value

A discounted cash flow framework fits Intuit because the business is highly cash-generative and its recurring software model allows operating performance to be projected with reasonable confidence over a long runway. The forecasted cash-flow path suggests expanding scale with gradually improving monetization, while capital intensity stays contained, indicating disciplined reinvestment rather than heavy maintenance spending. The progression from mid-single-digit billions of free cash flow to roughly $9.7 billion by year ten also implies healthy margin expansion early on, followed by a normalizing growth fade toward the terminal period.

AI Valuation Verdict

Discounted cash flow is the right lens for Intuit because its subscription-heavy model supports durable cash generation and a fairly visible operating ramp. The valuation assumes 9.02% revenue CAGR over ten years, a 27.21% average EBITDA margin, a 1.42% capex-to-revenue ratio, a 9.6% discount rate, and 3% terminal growth. On that basis, fair value is $365.49 per share versus a current price of $353.76, implying a 3.32% margin of safety and a Fairly Valued verdict. The result is most sensitive to margin durability, terminal growth, and the discount rate. Stronger pricing power or operating leverage would support upside; weaker growth or margin compression would pressure fair value.

DCF Assumptions

WACC

9.6%

Weighted avg cost of capital

Revenue Growth (10Y)

9.0%

CAGR assumption

EBITDA Margin

27.2%

Steady-state projection

CapEx / Revenue

1.4%

Capital investment

Terminal Growth

3.0%

Long-run growth rate

Projection Period

10 yrs

Explicit forecast horizon

Projected Cash Flows

Values in millions USD

Year	Revenue	EBITDA	FCF	Discounted FCF
Yr 1	21,326	5,788	4,461	4,070
Yr 2	24,151	6,548	5,051	4,205
Yr 3	26,747	7,248	5,574	4,234
Yr 4	29,696	8,051	6,198	4,295
Yr 5	32,560	8,865	6,829	4,318
Yr 6	35,410	9,647	7,426	4,284
Yr 7	37,181	10,146	7,798	4,105
Yr 8	40,312	11,000	8,472	4,069
Yr 9	44,181	12,049	9,284	4,069
Yr 10	46,390	12,664	9,734	3,892
Terminal Value (PV)				60,741

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Frequently asked questions about Intuit Inc.

Does Intuit Inc. (INTU) have an economic moat?: MoatScan AI rates Intuit Inc. (INTU) 70/100 for moat strength, assessed across five sources of competitive advantage: network effects, switching costs, intangible assets, cost advantages and efficient scale. Intuit has a durable but not unassailable franchise built around tax preparation, small-business accounting, and adjacent financial services.Sign in free to see the Moat Type verdict and the pillar-by-pillar reasoning.
What is Intuit Inc.'s moat score?: Intuit Inc. (INTU) has a moat score of 70/100. The score is a weighted average of five pillar ratings: network effects, switching costs, intangible assets, cost advantages, and efficient scale. A higher score means the competitive advantages MoatScan AI identifies are wider and more durable.Sign in free to see each pillar rating, the Moat Type verdict and the moat trend.
Is INTU stock overvalued or undervalued?: MoatScan AI answers this by estimating INTU's intrinsic value with a discounted cash flow (DCF) model, then comparing that estimate to the current market price. A share price meaningfully below the estimate is flagged undervalued; meaningfully above it, overvalued. The estimate updates with each new financial analysis.Sign in free to see the fair value estimate, the implied upside or downside, and the verdict.
What is Intuit Inc.'s fair value estimate?: MoatScan AI derives Intuit Inc.'s (INTU) fair value per share from a discounted cash flow (DCF) model built on the company's reported financials, analyst growth forecasts, and a discount rate reflecting its cost of capital. The Financial Analysis tab shows the estimate alongside every assumption behind it.Sign in free to see the estimate and the full assumptions behind it.

Disclaimer: The analysis on this page is generated by AI and is provided for informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice, investment recommendations, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Always conduct your own due diligence and consult a qualified financial adviser before making any investment decisions.

INTU$353.76

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