Lower costs make room for dividend hikes

Article Excerpt

These two information providers continue to adapt their businesses to better compete with providers of free online data. Recent cost cutting should also give them more room to further raise their dividends. THOMSON REUTERS CORP. $59 (Toronto symbol TRI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 734.7 million; Market cap: $43.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.6; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.thomsonreuters. com) sells information products to financial clients such as banks and brokerages. It also sells specialized information to professionals in the legal, and tax and accounting fields. In addition, the company owns the Reuters news service. As part of its plan to streamline operations, the company is cutting 4% of its workforce. During fiscal 2016, it expected to pay $200 million to $250 million in severance payments and other costs (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). These cuts should lower its annual expenses by a similar amount, starting in 2017. Meanwhile, Thomson’s earnings in the…