THOMSON REUTERS CORP. $53

THOMSON REUTERS CORP. $53 (Toronto symbol TRI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 752.4 million; Market cap: $39.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.4; Dividend yield: 3.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.thomsonreuters.com) mainly sells information products to financial clients, such as banks and brokerages. In 2015, this business supplied 52% of Thomson’s revenue. The company also sells specialized information to professionals in the legal (27%); tax and accounting (11%); and intellectual property and science (8%) fields. Its Reuters news division supplies the remaining 2%. Thomson now plans to sell its intellectual property business. It will probably use the expected proceeds of $3 billion to buy back its own shares (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). The sale should close later this year. The company’s revenue in the three months ended March 31, 2016, fell 1.0%, to $2.79 billion from $2.82 billion a year earlier. Thomson’s overseas operations in Europe and Asia supply 40% of its revenue, and the high U.S. dollar hurts their contribution. Without exchange rates, revenue gained 1%. Thomson also continues to enjoy the benefits of its recent cost-cutting plan. Its earnings jumped 19.2%, to $367 million from $308 million. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share gained 23.1%, to $0.48 from $0.39. The company’s earnings should continue to expand as its customers move from its older, less-profitable electronic terminals (delivering news and financial data to traders) to its newer Eikon platform. The company expects to complete the switchover by March 2017. Thomson’s long-term debt of $6.4 billion is a moderate 21% of its market cap. It also holds cash of $869 million. The company will probably earn $2.00 a share for all of 2016, and the stock trades at 20.6 times that estimate. The $1.36 dividend yields 3.3%. Thomson Reuters is a buy.

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