H&R Block Rises After Earnings Beat

The economic stimulus package also gave the company's results a boost. Many one-time filers came to H&R Block in order to qualify for the checks. Total U.S. clients rose 3.8% as 290,000 clients seeking checks filed their taxes through H&R Block. Excluding these clients the company enjoyed a 1.9% increase for the 2008 tax season.

H&R Block's board voted to increase the dividend by three cents a share to 60 cents, the 11th consecutive year of dividend increases. However, the company said it did not expect to buy back shares before the fourth quarter of 2009, even though it has a program approved by the board and in place, saying it "expects to be particularly disciplined" this year.

H&R Block also made gains in its digital tax business, which consists of online filing services through Hrblock.com and TaxCut software. This tax business increased online customers by 14 % and increased revenues 10 % year over year.

In 2006, the tax preparer had to restate three years of earnings due to internal accounting errors.

H&R Block's gain was felt by competitor Jackson Hewitt(JTX Quote - Cramer on JTX - Stock Picks), which reported its earnings earlier in June. Jackson Hewitt experienced a decline in tax return processing and reported a 13% drop in earnings. Its main online competition, Intuit(INTU Quote - Cramer on INTU - Stock Picks), which operates the TurboTax.com tax filing Web site, said last week that it expects to lose between 7 cents and 9 cents a share in the fourth-quarter, excluding items.

H&R Block expects to deliver earnings from continuing operations of $1.60 to $1.70 per share for 2009, its current fiscal year. According to Thomson Reuters, analysts are expecting $1.58 a share.

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