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Alarm.com Q4 Earnings Beat; Connects With Apple TV, Amazon Echo

Home security and smart-home technology provider Alarm.com ( ALRM ) soared Friday to a record high after raising its guidance and reporting fourth-quarter earnings late Thursday that topped expectations. The company is a cloud-based provider of connected-home technology. Its software-as-a-service platform enables homeowners and businesses to control a broad array of connected devices through a single user interface. Alarm.com reported Q4 revenue of $56.9 million, up 25% year over year and topping the consensus estimate of $44.1 million, as polled by Thomson Reuters. It reported earnings per share minus items of 14 cents, smashing estimates of just a penny profit. During the quarter, Alarm.com introduced an app for Apple ( AAPL ) TV. The app lets users watch live feeds from video cameras around their property in real time, using the Apple TV operating system and remote control. The company also announced voice control for lighting and smart thermostats that can be managed through the Amazon ( AMZN ) Echo device. With Amazon Echo and the Amazon cloud-based voice service Alexa, spoken commands — such as “turn on the living room lights” — trigger connected devices in the home. Alarm.com stock was up 13%, near 20, in late-afternoon trading in the stock market today . It peaked earlier in the session at 22.67. Alarm.com raised $98 million with its June 25 initial public offering , pricing 7 million shares at 14, the midpoint of its range. For 2016, Alarm.com expects revenue of $236 million to $239.5 million, well above the consensus of $232 million. Credit Suisse analyst Michael Nemeroff raised his price target on Alarm.com stock to 25 from 22, and maintained a buy rating. Alarm.com said that it expanded its base of dealers to 6,100, up from about 5,100 one year ago. It ended the year with 2.6 million subscribers, up 200,000 from eight months earlier.

Intuit Beats With Q3 Guidance But Doesn’t Raise Full-Year Outlook

No. 1 tax-preparation software maker  Intuit ( INTU ) — as it heads into its busy season — posted Q2 earnings and Q3 revenue guidance that beat Wall Street expectations, only to see its shares fall. One analyst says that the shares might be falling because the company didn’t raise its guidance for the year. At least two analysts raised their price targets on Intuit stock after the earnings release, and another was bullish on the tax season. Yet Intuit stock was down 5%, near 95, in afternoon trading on the  stock market today . In an interview after the earnings release late Thursday, Intuit CFO Neil Williams said that the company’s “momentum is really continuing into Q3.” Intuit said that sales for its fiscal Q2, which ended Jan. 31, rose 23% from the year-earlier quarter to $923 million. The company swung to a 25-cent per-share profit minus items from a 6-cent loss in the year-earlier quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected $893 million and 19 cents. The company doesn’t give earnings guidance, but it expects Q3 sales of $2.2 billion to $2.26 billion — at the midpoint up only 4.4% from the year-earlier quarter but above the $2.2 billion analyst consensus. Wall Street expects EPS ex items to rise 10%, to $3.15 per share. For the fiscal year, Intuit sees revenue of $4.5 billion to $4.6 billion, up 8.5% at the midpoint. But the company didn’t raise its guidance for the year, RBC Capital Markets analyst Ross MacMillan told IBD, and there are questions about the company’s underlying growth potential. Another factor could be the strong earnings and guidance this week from software makers  Salesforce.com ( CRM ) and Palo Alto Networks ( PANW ). Intuit, MacMillan says, is regarded as a “defensive” stock play, but if other stocks are doing well, Intuit is less attractive. In a research note, MacMillan said that Intuit’s TurboTax sales stood out last quarter, rising 9%. He hiked his price target on Intuit stock — but only to 93 from 91. UBS analyst Brent Thill called the results the “best start to tax season in 13 years.” The fiscal Q3 tax season is always the company’s biggest quarter. “We’re in the third year of a multiyear journey and are beginning to see a sea change in how Americans prepare their taxes, driven by the massive innovation across the TurboTax experience combined with a breakthrough marketing campaign that makes our product the hero,” Sasan Goodarzi, executive vice president and general manager of Intuit’s Consumer Tax Group,  said in the earnings release. Part of Intuit’s plan to drive consumer tax growth is to leverage its do-it-yourself tax packages, CFO Williams told IBD. “Think about growing the DIY market as growing our total addressable market,” he said. Thill also says that Intuit is a good defensive play. Williams agrees, saying that the small businesses that comprise much of Intuit’s customer base often turn to its software packages when the economy heads south. Besides TurboTax, Intuit is known for its Quicken and QuickBooks small-business software. “Our products are needed most when small-business owners are maybe facing some headwinds economically.” Williams said. “We do well with economic uncertainty.” Wedbush analyst Gil Luria raised his price target on Intuit stock to 100 from 90. Intuit rival H&R Block ( HRB ), which makes the other major tax-preparation software product, is slated to report fiscal Q3 earnings on Thursday.

SunEdison Routs Appaloosa’s Vivint Solar Injunction; Stocks Rocket

Beleaguered SunEdison ( SUNE ) and Vivint Solar ( VSLR ) stocks brightened Friday, continuing a two-day liftoff after a Delaware judge cleared their merger path by tossing an injunction request from activist investor Appaloosa Management. SunEdison stock rocketed as much as 61% Friday, after rising 37% Thursday. But the stock still is trading below 2.50, up 35% in afternoon trading on the stock market today . Vivint Solar stock rose as much as 41%, and it was up 35% Friday afternoon, near 8. TerraForm Power ( TERP ) stock was up a fraction Friday afternoon. Appaloosa, which owns 9.5% of TerraForm Power, has waged war on SunEdison’s plan to drop Vivint Solar’s 523-megawatt portfolio down to yield company TerraForm Power. SunEd’s Vivint acquisition is pending. Last month,  David Tepper-managed Appaloosa demanded “immediate injunctive relief,” claiming SunEdison would force TerraForm Power to take on $960 million in debt. A judge denied that injunction late Thursday, SunEdison said. “We are gratified that the court denied the injunction and now look ahead to continuing to navigate current market conditions,” SunEdison said in a statement . Dropping Vivint Solar’s rooftop assets to TerraForm Power frees up some space on SunEdison’s constrained balance sheet, Credit Suisse analyst Patrick Jobin wrote in a research report. “This should also relieve some artificial pressure to sell the Vivint Solar operating portfolio as a distressed seller,” he wrote. “We think an asset sale is possible given the aversion TerraForm Power shareholders have for residential solar assets, but it is no longer a necessity.” Jobin maintained his neutral rating and 3 price target on SunEdison stock. But S&P Capital analyst Angelo Zino cut his price target on SunEdison stock to 3 from 7. He maintained his hold rating on shares. The ruling gives SunEdison some flexibility to close the Vivint Solar deal. “However, we are growing more concerned about SunEdison’s financial position given the lack of asset sales thus far announced,” Zino wrote in a report.