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Intuit is accelerating the pace of its stock buybacks and ending scheduled stock sales by its senior management team to help shore up its stock.
The moves by the financial technology company, which owns TurboTax, Credit Karma and QuickBooks, are meant to shore up a sagging stock price—down about 33% this year—as investors worry AI will degrade software providers' businesses.
Intuit had $3.5 billion remaining under its current buyback authorization at the end of its fiscal 2026 second quarter that ended Jan. 31, the company said. Using that $3.5 billion, it plans to approximately double the $1.8 billion it repurchased in the first half of its fiscal year in the year’s second half. That would nearly double total fiscal 2026 buybacks compared with the previous year, based on current market conditions, Intuit’s CFO said.
In an interview with the WSJ Leadership Institute’s CFO Journal, Intuit CFO Sandeep Aujla talked about the leadership team’s decision. The following are edited excerpts of the conversation:
WSJLI: Why did you decide to end executive sales and accelerate buybacks?
Aujla: Across the business, we just have amazing momentum. If I look at our year-to-date results, we just reported Q2 in late February, revenues are up 18%. I see the fundamentals of the business. I feel really good about the fundamentals. As a company, we focus on delivering for our customers, and really doubling down on our three big bets [which the Inuit described as delivering specific experiences for customers, accelerating money benefits and helping midmarket businesses succeed]. And I feel good about the momentum we have there.
But at the same time, I see this market dislocation, right? The market is seeing a boogeyman that frankly doesn't exist. And sooner or later, the fundamentals are all that matters and the market is going to realize that…And where I see that the stock is mispriced, frankly, based on what I know about the momentum we have, we are leaning into buybacks.
The management team, we got together as a leadership team. I tell you, it was like a five-second conversation [to cancel the 10b5-1 stock sales].
WSJLI: What was the main rationale for the senior management team?
Aujla: What we are doing through these actions as a management team is highlighting to the external community where the management team's head is at, both in terms of our own personal decisions around our own personal net worth, and what we think is the best move with our shareholders' capital.
Over the years since I've been CFO, we've been returning over 60% of our free cash flow to shareholders through buybacks and dividends. We're going to lean in even more so right now because I fundamentally think the stock is mispriced.
It's really highlighting to the external community that the management team has confidence in the fundamentals of the business.
WSJLI: Is there any fair value price at which leadership might plan to reinstate these sales at some point, or do you see this as a permanent shift?
Aujla: We see this as a shift for the foreseeable future. I go back to, and this is the conversation I have internally as well, the hardest thing to disprove is a negative. I know at the end of the day, fundamentals matter. Does the market realize that next week, next quarter, six months from now? I just can't predict that. So, all of us as a senior leadership team are for the foreseeable future, we just don't see why we would sell stock at these kinds of prices.
WSJLI: Did the senior leadership talk about any potential retention risk? Does the halting of these sales create any kind of pressure regarding cash-based compensation or are you thinking about adjusting anything?
Aujla: We're not requiring that all of our employees halt their sales, just the senior leadership team and, as I said, it was like a five-second conversation. In terms of pressure on cash now, look, these jobs are multiyear journeys, right? We have a deep belief in the strategy we're executing. We have a belief in the three big bets and how that unlocks the next stage of growth for us. So I view this as a multiyear journey. So there's absolutely no change to our cash compensation practices as a result of this.
CFO readers, tune in next week, when Sandeep Aujla and other CFOs and tech leaders join us at our CFO Summit in Palo Alto, Calif., on Monday and Tuesday. More details on that below about our full coverage of the summit.
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