Over the years, I've been a loyal customer of Intuit's (NASDAQ: INTU) TurboTax. The product has evolved nicely -- and has certainly made my life easier. In fact, I've recommended it to a variety of people.

But recently things haven't been so good. You see, when I originally purchased the product, there was no online offering. Instead, I would get a CD in the mail. Needless to say, it's kind of Old School.

Well, my CD drive went bad and so I can't load up the new version of TurboTax. So, I reached out to the folks at Intuit and asked if I can use the online version.

This post is part of a special annual report -- Top Stock Picks '09 -- in which TheStockAdvisors.com asked 75 leading newsletter advisors to select their favorite investment for the new year.

As his top pick for 2009, leading value investor Charles Mizrahi looks to Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU), the maker of QuickBooks, Quicken, and TurboTax. Here's the latest from Hidden Values Alert.

"Intuit is s a leading provider of business and financial management solutions for small and medium sized businesses, financial institutions, consumers, and accounting professionals.

"Their flagship products and services, including QuickBooks, Quicken, and TurboTax, simplify small business management and payroll processing, personal finance, and tax preparation and filing.

"ProSeries and Lacerte are Intuit's leading tax preparation offerings for professional accountants. Its Digital Insight, provides on-demand banking services that help banks and credit unions serve businesses and consumers with innovative solutions.

With "tax time" fast approaching, Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) is perhaps one of the few that are happy. After all, it sells the dominant tax software product, TurboTax.

Yet, as seen with the fiscal Q2 results, things are not so rosy. Revenue increased 11% to $834.9 million and profit was $115.2 million, or 34 cents per share, down from $145.4 million, or 40 cents, a year earlier.

True, Intuit's tax business remains strong (especially the online sales). However, the company is showing some strains with its QuickBooks line (which is an accounting system for small business).

So, is this because of the slowing economy? Well, according to the conference call, Intuit wasn't sure. For example, the problem could be the result of the timing of marketing expenditures. Or, there may be strains from the credit crunch (such as the difficulties of refinancings and even getting credit lines).

As a result, it should be no surprise that Intuit has provided meager guidance. Basically, the company expects revenue growth of 5% to 7%.

Although, looking for the long haul, Intuit remains optimistic. For example, the company recently purchased Homestead, which provides websites for small businesses. This should be a nice cross sell with other Intuit products. What's more, Intuit's payroll business is still strong.

But, in today's trading, Intuit's shares are getting slammed – down 11% to $26.53.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

Over the years, Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) has been able to beat back Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), and in the process, build a powerful franchise. But investors are wondering: where will the next stage of growth come from?

Well, if you listened to the Q3 conference call, the company is excited about the small-business category.

So, yesterday Intuit announced that it will spend $170 million for Homestead Technologies, which is a provider of websites for small businesses.

True, this is a commodity business. Yet, it can be a way to sell value-add services, such as Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Adwords, customer relationship management tools, and so on.

On its face, there are some clear synergies, such as with Intuit's QuickBooks and TurboTax offerings. But, since it's privately-held, it's tough the gauge the size of Homestead.

But keep in mind that the company is in a fiercely competitive business, which is undergoing consolidation. So, it should be no surprise that Homestead finally decided to sell out.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

The moral of many stories is to "not wait until the last minute". Alas, not many U.S. taxpayers heeded that advice last night as they began filing their federal taxes at Intuit Inc.'s (NASDAQ: INTU) TurboTax website or using its TurboTax software.

In a development that is hardly surprising, TurboTax's computer servers were overwhelmed and hour-long delays began to plague the system as the midnight deadline for filing was near.

Generally, it takes less than a minute for customers who file through TurboTax (e-filing) to receive a message that their return(s) have been successfully submitted to the IRS. It was taking a few hours (or longer) last night as Intuit's servers were processing 50-60 returns a second. As such, a backlog of returns to be submitted to the IRS started piling up.

At least the IRS was "sympathetic" to Intuit's plight, and Intuit doubts that many late filers will get hit with penalties due to its inability to get a few hundred thousand returns (or more) submitted before midnight last night.

Were you a late filer? If so, it's easy to avoid possible problems like this in the future, right? Just don't wait until the final few hours to finish and send your taxes to Uncle Sam.

A few days ago, I notified our readers that Vanilla Ice was promoting TurboTax's TaxRap contest. (For those of you who haven't heard this, or who can't bring yourselves to believe it, take a look at the post here.) In order to spare our more sensitive readers the pain of looking at hours of amateur rap videos about taxes and software, I'll post some of the better ones here.

So far, my favorite is by a bunch of high school kids. It goes by the name of The Taxman Came Rapping. It stands out because of the quality of its lyrics and video, and because one kid plays a child by standing on his knees throughout the song. I think these kids have a future -- though probably as accountants, not rappers.

Vanilla Ice, the white rapper and all-around clown who sold over 10 million copies of "Ice Ice Baby" and then quickly became the punchline to countless jokes, has teamed up with TurboTax to create a Tax Rap contest.

Now take a deep breath and read that sentence again. As hard as it may be to believe, it is true.

When I first learned about this, I assumed it was a joke. Then I went through the usual cycle -- denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. But now I am at peace with this latest evidence of America's deeply troubled condition. In fact, I have come to embrace it, as proof that creative genius dwells even in the darkest sewers of a money and celebrity obsessed culture.

Some of you may be wondering why TurboTax, owned by Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU), would stoop so low as to associated itself with Vanilla Ice, or Robert Matthew Van Winkle as his parents call him. But the people at TurboTax obviously understand the most basic law of American culture: there's no such thing as bad publicity. And there's a bright side to the whole story. Some of the videos submitted in the contest, which invites people to create raps about taxes and the many joys of using TurboTax, are actually pretty funny. I particularly liked these lines, courtesy of the Big Dog Refund:

Nothing feels better than kickin' a fat rhyme
And nothin' feels better than winnin' at tax time

Vanilla Ice's TurboTax video is below. For hours (or at least minutes) of further entertainment from the hundreds of rap videos made by the tax-paying citizenry of this great country, go to the Tax Rap site.