Topic: Dividend Stocks

THOMSON REUTERS CORP. $31 – Toronto symbol TRI

THOMSON REUTERS CORP. $31 (Toronto symbol TRI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 826.5 million; Market cap: $25.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.thomsonreuters.com) gets 57% of its revenue and 50% of its earnings by selling news and information to professionals in the banking industry. It also sells specialized information products to clients in the legal, accounting and scientific research fields.

The company was already a well-established specialized information provider before it merged with the Reuters news agency in 2008. That deal gave the combined company even more information to sell. It also cut its reliance on North America. Thomson Reuters now gets 57% of its revenue from the Americas, followed by Europe (31%) and Asia (12%).

In addition, the Reuters merger helped the company launch its new Eikon terminals, which deliver real-time news and financial data to securities traders and portfolio managers. Even as the uncertain global economy prompted banks and other financial service businesses to scale back their spending, the number of Eikon users rose 35% in the third quarter of 2012 from the second quarter.

Thomson Reuters is also expanding into new niche industries. For example, it recently purchased MarkMonitor, which helps businesses protect their brands and trademarks on the Internet. That includes shutting down websites that sell counterfeit goods or pirated digital content, like movies.

The stock trades at 15.0 times the $2.06 U.S. a share that Thomson Reuters probably earned in 2012. The $1.28 U.S. dividend yields 4.1%.

Thomson Reuters is a buy.

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