Shares shifted as Thomson Reuters climbed +2.4% to $87.50 on April 13, riding a wave of analyst upgrades and growing investor conviction that its AI strategy is translating into real revenue. The stock remains roughly 52% below its one-year high, raising a pointed question: is the market still underpricing a business that is quietly embedding AI into the daily workflows of a million paying professionals?
One Million Professionals Are Already Paying, Not Just Piloting
Thomson Reuters announced in February that its AI assistant now has one million users across 107 countries. This isn't a free-tier vanity metric. The share of new contracts that include AI features jumped from 15% to 28% in just four quarters , which directly feeds revenue. Analysts estimate 7.8% revenue growth to $8.1 billion in 2026 and earnings per share accelerating from $3.92 to $4.41 — a 12.5% EPS jump largely powered by AI-driven upselling.
Wall Street Is Turning More Bullish — With Caveats
On April 10, Barclays maintained an "Overweight" rating while cutting its price target from $210 to $170 , still nearly double the current price. In February, RBC Capital upgraded TRI from "Sector Perform" to "Outperform" with a $126 target.
The average analyst target across 15 firms sits at $129.63 , implying roughly 48% upside. But the stock's one-year total return has declined 52%, suggesting momentum has faded even as earnings expectations improve.
Acquisitions Are Adding Data, Not Just Features
Thomson Reuters acquired Noetica in February 2026, an AI-powered transactional analytics firm whose benchmarking tools will be integrated into its legal AI platform. This follows the $650 million Casetext deal in 2023 and $600 million SafeSend purchase in 2025. The company has roughly $10 billion in acquisition firepower earmarked through 2027 , signaling more deals ahead.
The Risk: AI Disruption Cuts Both Ways
Competitors like Anthropic have released new tools for lawyers, causing software stocks to plunge. Thomson Reuters is betting its 175 years of proprietary legal and tax data create a durable advantage, but the story breaks if AI adoption disappoints or premium pricing faces pushback from cost-focused clients. At roughly 20x forward earnings versus a five-year average near 35x, the stock is priced for doubt. Investors buying here are wagering that doubt is overdone.