Thomson Reuters shares downgraded to Hold from Buy

The US digital financial media firm said the company’s strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as compelling growth in net income, revenue growth and impressive record of earnings per share growth.

“However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself, generally poor debt management and poor profit margins.”

The Street noted net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has significantly exceeded that of the S&P 500 and the media industry, but revenue growth trails the industry average. 

It said the company has underperformed the S&P 500 Index, declining 12.88 per cent from its price level a year ago. “Looking ahead, we do not see anything in this company's numbers that would change the one-year trend. It was down over the last twelve months; and it could be down again in the next twelve.”

Thomson Reuters shares were 1.69 per cent higher at $30.64 in New York and 1.66 per cent higher at C$30.03 in Toronto. ■