TLDRs;
- Intuit shares rose 2% as AI-powered apps launched inside ChatGPT for U.S. users.
- Tax season momentum puts TurboTax performance firmly in investor focus.
- Broader software stocks remain under pressure despite Intuit’s rebound.
- Markets now look ahead to jobs data and Intuit’s Feb. 26 earnings report.
Intuit Inc. shares moved higher at the end of the week as investors responded to a mix of company-specific momentum and broader market positioning ahead of key economic data.
The stock closed Friday at $443.77, gaining just over 2% on the session, as buyers stepped into software names that have been heavily sold in recent weeks. Despite the rebound, Intuit remains significantly below its mid-2025 peak, still trading roughly 45% under its July high.
The advance came as Intuit formally rolled out its flagship products, including TurboTax, QuickBooks, Credit Karma, and Mailchimp, inside ChatGPT for logged-in U.S. users. The launch marks a notable step in the company’s AI strategy, placing its financial tools directly within a conversational interface at a time when millions of Americans are beginning the annual tax-filing process.
Stock Rebounds Amid Volatility
Friday’s move higher stood out against a challenging backdrop for software stocks. The broader software and services sector has been under sustained pressure, with recent declines wiping out close to $1 trillion in market value since late January.
Concerns around valuation, slowing growth, and the long-term impact of artificial intelligence on traditional software business models have driven what some market participants describe as an aggressive risk-off environment.
Against that backdrop, Intuit’s shares attracted above-average trading volume as investors selectively rotated into names with near-term catalysts. While the stock’s gain does little to erase recent losses, it suggests some confidence that Intuit’s core businesses may prove more resilient than the broader sector during the current downturn.
AI Tools Meet Tax Season
Timing appears central to the market’s response. The IRS officially opened the 2026 tax filing season on January 26, with projections pointing to roughly 164 million individual returns before the April 15 deadline. TurboTax remains one of Intuit’s most important revenue drivers, and the integration of its services into ChatGPT arrives as millions of filers seek faster and more intuitive ways to navigate tax preparation.
Company executives have framed the AI rollout as a way to deliver more personalized guidance while keeping user data secure. Intuit has emphasized that customer information remains within its own systems and is not used to train underlying AI models. That reassurance may be particularly important as regulators and consumers scrutinize how financial data is handled in AI-powered platforms.
Beyond tax filing, Intuit’s broader ecosystem, including small-business accounting through QuickBooks and marketing tools via Mailchimp, positions the company to benefit from AI-driven automation across multiple customer segments.
Macro Data in Focus
With U.S. equity markets closed until Monday, attention is shifting to the coming week’s economic releases. Investors are closely watching the next nonfarm payrolls report, followed shortly by fresh inflation data. Both have the potential to influence interest rate expectations and, by extension, valuations across the technology sector.
For growth-oriented stocks like Intuit, shifts in rate outlooks can quickly alter sentiment. Stronger-than-expected jobs or inflation data could renew pressure on software names, while signs of cooling could offer temporary relief after a volatile start to the year.
Earnings and Payments Strategy
The next major test for Intuit arrives on February 26, when the company reports fiscal second-quarter 2026 results. Investors are expected to focus on early tax-season trends, adoption of AI-enabled features, and progress within Intuit’s payments business.
Earlier this week, the company announced a multi-year partnership with Affirm, integrating buy-now, pay-later options directly into QuickBooks Payments. Management has positioned the move as a way to help small businesses improve conversion rates and manage cash flow more effectively, an area that could become increasingly important if economic conditions tighten.
While uncertainty remains around how quickly AI will reshape software earnings models, Intuit’s latest stock move suggests investors are willing, at least for now, to give the company credit for executing during a critical seasonal window. Whether that optimism holds will become clearer later this month when Intuit opens its books and answers questions on how its AI ambitions are translating into real-world results.
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