Intuit falls on downgrade

Intuit (Nasdaq: INTU) tumbled 13 percent Monday after getting hit with a downgrade.

Shares in the personal finance software maker were down 6 3/8 to 43 15/16. The stock has been even after the company said its fiscal year 2000 was on track.

Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Lise Buyer cut her rating on Intuit to "buy" from "strong buy."

"She believes this is temporary and that the 12-month prospect for Intuit, the company and the stock are very, very compelling," the brokerage said in a report.

Based on fall of Intuit's Quickbook sales, Buyer has reduced revenue estimates from $343 million to $327 million for the third quarter, and from $165 million to $153 million in the fourth quarter. Fiscal year 2000 estimates have been cut from $1.1 billion to $1.08 billion. The company's earnings estimates have been left unchanged.

"We believe management has already adjusted spending plans to coincide with the slightly slower revenue growth," the report stated.

Buyer's price target has been lowered from $81 to $75, a figure still 50 percent above its current price.

Intuit's competitors include Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) and Automatic Data Processing (NYSE: AUD).