Cost cuts, new products will fuel earnings

Article Excerpt

THOMSON REUTERS CORP. $37 (Toronto symbol TRI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 831.1 million; Market cap: $30.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.4; Dividend yield: 3.3%; SI Rating: Above Average) has two main divisions: Markets (60% of revenue), which sells financial information to banks and other financial institutions; and Professional (40%), which sells specialized information to professionals in the legal, accounting, scientific and health-care fields. The company gets about 60% of its revenue from North and South America, followed by Europe (30%) and Asia (10%). In the three months ended March 31, 2010, Thomson’s revenue rose 0.3%, to $3.14 billion from $3.13 billion a year earlier (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Earnings fell 9.3%, to $304 million from $335 million. Earnings per share fell 10.0%, to $0.36 from $0.40, on more shares outstanding. Many of Thomson’s financial clients, such as banks and brokerage firms, cut their spending on information products during the financial crisis. Even though…