These two are shifting to better businesses

Article Excerpt

Both of these information providers are shifting their focus to more-promising businesses. That bodes well for their future earnings, which should also support their dividends. THOMSON REUTERS CORP. $108 remains a buy. The company (Toronto symbol TRI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares o/s: 495.7 million; Market cap: $53.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 9.0; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.thomsonreuters.com) continues to enhance investor value with its plan to focus on selling specialized information to professionals in the legal, and tax and accounting fields. It also owns the Reuters news service. In October 2018 when Thomson sold 55% of its Financial & Risk business (now called Refinitiv) to a consortium led by Blackstone Group LP (New York symbol BX). Refinitiv sells specialized information products to financial clients such as banks and brokerages. In exchange, Thomson received $17 billion—$3 billion in cash and $14 billion in notes and preferred shares (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). The company and Blackstone have now…