UPDATE 3-Intuit fourth-quarter loss narrows; shares rise

*Q4 shr loss 5 cts, ex-items vs. Street view loss 10 cts

*Revenue rises 18 percent

*Offers better-than-expected fiscal 2011 outlook

*Shares up nearly 6 percent after hours (Adds executive, analyst comment, share price, analysts' estimates)

By Liana B. Baker

NEW YORK, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Intuit Inc (INTU.O), maker of TurboTax and Quicken accounting software, offered a better-than-expected outlook for earnings and revenue for fiscal 2011, forecasting healthy sales to both small businesses and consumers.

Intuit's shares rose nearly 6 percent after hours.

"It's still a cautious outlook (for small businesses) but our indicators with small businesses have been moving positively," Intuit's Chief Financial Officer Neil Williams told Reuters on Thursday.

Intuit said it expects its fiscal 2011 revenue would rise by 8 percent to 11 percent.

Sasa Zorovic, the managing director of software research at Janney Capital Markets, said Intuit's outlook was optimistic considering the uncertain environment surrounding small businesses, some of Intuit's key customers.

"Their guidance is as clean and upbeat as you can hope for with this backdrop of an iffy environment."

The Mountain View, California- based tax preparation company posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $48 million, or 15 cents a share, compared with a loss of $71 million, or 22 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding one time items, it posted a loss of 5 cents a share, beating analyst estimates that called for a loss of 10 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue increased 18 percent to $537 million in the quarter ended on July 31, also surpassing analyst's estimates.

Sales of QuickBooks online accounting software grew 37 from the year-ago period and the company said its paid online customer base more than doubled since the start of this year.

The company has been taking market share away from tax preparers H&R Block Inc (HRB.N) and Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc JTX.N as customers shift to "do-it-yourself" models for tax preparations.

Both H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt saw their share prices sink in early August after the Internal Revenue Service eliminated a rule that allowed tax refund loans that companies would use to attract customers [ID:nSGE6740M3]

"The tax preparers will have to charge more for basic services, which may be an opportunity for us," Intuit's CFO Williams said.

For fiscal 2011, the company said it expected earnings excluding items of $2.36 a share to $2.43 a share, compared with analysts' estimates of $2.31 a share. Revenue, it said, should range between $3.74 billion and $3.84 billion. Analysts had expected revenue of $3.72 billion.

Intuit generates most of its profit in its fiscal second and third quarters, when consumers are more likely to buy Intuit's software in the lead up to tax season.

Intuit shares were trading at $41 following the quarterly earnings report, after closing at $38.77 on the Nasdaq. The stock is up 26 percent this year. (Reporting by Liana B. Baker; editing by Carol Bishopric)