Thomson Reuters Raises 2026 Outlook As AI Gains Momentum

Thomson Reuters Corp. (NASDAQ:TRI) stock rose in premarket trading Tuesday after the company reported third-quarter earnings and revenue below Wall Street estimates and updated its full-year outlook.

Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) rose 14% to 81 cents from 71 cents a year earlier, missing estimates of 89 cents.

Revenue increased 10% year over year to $1.833 billion, below the $1.874 billion estimate. Organic revenue also grew 10%, driven by stronger recurring and transaction revenue.

Thomson Reuters Updates 2026 Outlook

Thomson Reuters raised its fiscal 2026 sales guidance from $8.074 billion to $8.186 billion, above the $8.007 billion analyst estimate, according to Benzinga Pro.

The company completed the sale of a 51% stake in its Global Print business to KKR-advised accounts on Oct. 1 for approximately $500 million in gross proceeds.

The updated outlook excludes Global Print and reflects continuing operations.

Thomson Reuters now expects total revenue growth of approximately 9.5%, organic revenue growth of 8.5% to 9% and an adjusted EBITDA margin of about 39%.

Its August outlook, which included Global Print, projected approximately 8% growth in both total and organic revenue. Guidance for its three largest segments remains unchanged.

For the fourth quarter, the company expects organic revenue growth of approximately 8% and an adjusted EBITDA margin of about 42%.

AI Momentum Builds

Thomson Reuters’ AI push is gaining traction, with strong customer interest in its next-generation CoCounsel Legal platform and the recent launch of CoCounsel Tax, Audit & Accounting.

CEO Steve Hasker also expressed optimism about commercial opportunities for Thomson LLM, while higher generative AI content licensing revenue helped drive growth at Reuters.

Hasker said third-quarter revenue growth and margins exceeded the company’s earlier expectations.

Margins and Cash Flow

Adjusted EBITDA rose 10% to $651 million from $593 million a year earlier. However, the adjusted EBITDA margin narrowed to 35.5% from 35.8%.

Operating profit fell 22% to $402 million, mainly reflecting a gain from the sale of the company’s remaining stake in Elite during the year-earlier period.

Free cash flow declined to $408 million from $526 million, while operating cash flow fell 15% to $599 million.

Cash and cash equivalents totaled $1.394 billion at the end of September.

The company also issued approximately $2 billion in debt during September and completed its $600 million share repurchase program.

Dividend Update

Thomson Reuters will pay a quarterly dividend of 65.5 cents per common share on Dec. 10 to shareholders of record as of Nov. 18.

In February, the company increased its annualized dividend by 10%, or 24 cents, to $2.62 per common share. The increase marked its 33rd consecutive year of dividend growth.

Segment Performance

Legal Professionals revenue rose 9% to $788 million, supported by demand for Westlaw and CoCounsel Legal.

Corporates revenue increased 11% to $544 million, while Tax, Audit & Accounting Professionals revenue climbed 11% to $276 million.

Reuters revenue jumped 12% to $232 million, supported by AI licensing and other revenue streams.

TRI Price Action: Thomson Reuters shares were up 0.20% at $122.49 during premarket trading on Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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