Intuit has loss in seasonally weak fourth quarter

BOSTON (Reuters) - Intuit Inc (INTU.O), maker of TurboTax tax preparation software, reported on Thursday that it had a wider loss in its seasonally weak fourth quarter, which ended July 31.

The company had a fiscal fourth-quarter loss of $61.9 million, or 19 cents per share, compared with a loss of $13.6 million, or 4 cents, a year earlier.

Revenue rose 11 percent to $478 million.

Intuit typically loses money in its fourth and first quarters. It more than compensates for those losses with profits in the second and third quarters that are generated by sales of TurboTax software.

The software maker projected that revenue would grow between 9 percent and 12 percent this fiscal year to $3.35 billion to $3.43 billion, suggesting sales could miss the forecasts of some Wall Street analysts.

Analysts on average expect the company to report full-year revenue of $3.43 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.

The company also forecast it will report full year profit excluding items of $1.86 to $1.90.

Analysts expect it to report profit excluding items of

$1.86.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Andre Grenon)