Thomson Reuters profit tops estimates, revenue misses

[November 01, 2017]  By Jessica Toonkel

(Reuters) - Thomson Reuters Corp on Wednesday reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit even as revenue slightly missed estimates, and the news and information company said full-year profits will be at the high end of its earlier forecast.

The logo of Thomson Reuters is pictured at the entrance of its Paris headquarters, France, March 7, 2016. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo

Third-quarter net earnings rose to $348 million or 46 cents per share, from $286 million, or 36 cents per share, a year ago.

Adjusted for special items, earnings were 68 cents per share.

Total revenue grew 1 percent excluding currency to $2.79 billion.

Analysts on average, were looking for profit of 58 cents per share, and revenue of $2.82 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S/.

In its Financial & Risk segment, which provides news and analytics to financial services companies, sales outpaced cancellations, a key indicator of future growth. Overall revenue for the unit was up slightly.

Thomson Reuters, parent of Reuters News, competes for financial customers with Bloomberg LP, as well as News Corp's <NWSA.O> Dow Jones unit.

While Thomson Reuters has continued to grow in the low single digits, some investors question if the company needs to do more to grow revenue.

"The company continues to see positive progress in its turnaround efforts, improving momentum in revenues and the attention to cost is driving impressive margin performance," said Peter Appert, an analyst with Piper Jaffray. "The question is what levers can the company pull to move the needle on revenue growth in a more meaningful way."

(Reporting By Jessica Toonkel; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

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