Thomson Reuters Corporation (TSX: TRI) stock has bounced 42% since June 22, 2026, after a 62% dip between July 25, 2025, and June 18, 2026. This dip was due to a 32% year-over-year decline in 2025 diluted earnings per share (EPS) due to massive spending on product development.
The recent 5% stock gain stems from third-quarter 2026 earnings that showed revenue growth from selling a 51% stake in its declining Global Print business to KKR.
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Why did Thomson Reuters stock fall?
Thomson Reuters is a content and technology company. Most people see the news services segment as ‘Reuters’, but it is the smallest revenue contributor (12.6% of total revenue in the third quarter of 2026) after the restructuring. The biggest revenue (87%) comes from the Big Three – Legal, Corporates, and Tax, Audit & Accounting. Thomson Reuters provides them with highly specialized software, data, intelligence, research, and workflow solutions.
Since the onset of artificial intelligence (AI) at the end of 2023, the company has been pouring money into developing AI-driven solutions. Software development accounting goes through three stages:
- The initial phase of research and planning is expensed, affecting the Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA). TRI’s Adjusted EBITDA margin fell to 37.9% in the first nine months of 2026.
- In the application development stage, the cost is capitalized, affecting the balance sheet.
- Once the software is available for use, the cost is amortized, affecting the EPS. In 2025, TRI’s EPS fell 32%.
| Thomson Reuters Particulars (IFRS) | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 9M 2026 | 9M 2025 |
| Revenue (US dollar millions) | $6,794 | $7,258 | $7,476 | $5,651 | $5,113 |
| YoY growth | 3% | 7% | 3% | 11% | |
| Adjusted EBITDA (US dollar millions) | $2,408 | $2,500 | $2,695 | $2,140 | $1,930 |
| Adjusted EBITDA margin | 43.80% | 42.10% | 43.60% | 37.90% | |
| Diluted EPS | $5.80 | $4.89 | $3.33 | $2.78 | $2.43 |
| YoY growth | 111% | -16% | -32% | 14% |
Note that the company’s revenue has been growing throughout this period. In mid-June 2025, not just Thomson Reuters; other major enterprise software companies like Oracle and SAP also saw their stock prices fall.
Can the suffering Thomson Reuters stock bounce back?
For Thomson Reuters’ suffering to end, its AI bet has to work and generate higher EBITDA. That requires strong adoption of AI products at premium prices. Are clients willing to pay the price for AI?
Thomson Reuters hasn’t been reporting AI revenue separately, but it did show organic revenue growth accelerating to 10% in the third quarter of 2026 from 7% in 2025 in the Big Three segments. Its Chief Financial Officer Gary E. Bischoping Jr., in an interview, said that 34% of Thomson Reuters’ third-quarter underlying contract value relied on generative AI, such as Westlaw and CoCounsel, up from 24% last year.
Thomson Reuters sells the majority of its print business as it bets on AI
In the earnings call, CEO Steve Hasker discussed TRI’s three-phase AI integration plan. First, rebuild CoCounsel; second, enhance capabilities, such as Brief Builder; and third, provide forward support so that the end user gets the return on investment (ROI) they need. So far, the company is in the first two stages and is planning another $9 billion to $10 billion of potential investments in AI, legal, tax and accounting, and other areas next year. The underlying contract value probably means the AI portion that is being integrated into its existing systems.
Hasker believes the next 5 to 10 years will determine how the total addressable market of their AI solutions expands. It all depends on the ROI these solutions realize. This uncertainty and wait-and-watch approach to AI ROI is what makes Thomson Reuters’ stock volatile in the short term.
While focusing on high-growth AI opportunities, TRI is offloading its slow-moving print business, which makes up for 7% of its revenue. With Global Print, Thomson Reuters has sold only the right to distribute that content in print and via the ProView e-book platform, while retaining ownership of the intellectual property, editorial control, and content portfolio. It can use the content for AI.
Final thoughts
While TRI stock has potential to grow gradually as the AI story unfolds, a bounce back of 40–50% depends on the EPS story. Keep an eye on the earnings.
