You can expect more gains from Thomson

Article Excerpt

THOMSON REUTERS CORP. $88 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol TRI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares o/s: 501.1 million; Market cap: $44.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 7.6; Dividend yield: 2.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.thomsonreuters.com) now aims to drive investor returns with its focus on selling specialized information to professionals in the legal, and tax and accounting fields. It also owns the Reuters news service, but sold 55% of its Financial & Risk business (now called Refinitiv) on October 1, 2018, 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). It then used $7.7 billion of the proceeds to buy back shares, which directly helps to lift your shareholder value. Thomson and Blackstone have now agreed to sell Refinitiv to LSE—the…