On Thursday, Thomson Reuters Corp reported a higher-than-expected quarterly net profit and said that it is waiting a revenue growth this year to 1-3%.
The media holding reported that diluted net income was $ 2.24 billion, or $ 3.03 per share, compared with $ 417 million, or 53 cents per share, during the same period a year earlier.
Excluding the expenses and income from discontinued operations, the company earned 60 cents per share, 2 cents above analysts' average forecast, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue of $ 2.86 billion was slightly below Wall Street estimates of $ 2.89 billion. Sales in the largest division of the company - Financial & Risk, which provides news and analytics on companies involved in financial services, increased 1% to $ 1.5 billion.
Thomson Reuters, the parent company of Reuters news agency, is competing for the attraction of financial customers with Bloomberg LP and Dow Jones, a division of News Corp. Reuters sales rose 5% in the fourth quarter to $ 77 million.
Thomson Reuters announced that its Board of Directors approved the increase of the annual dividend by 2 cents to $ 1.38 per share, as well as an increase in the amount of share buyback program by $ 1 billion.
The company expects to accelerate sales growth in 2017, predicting sales growth of 1-3%, excluding the impact of currency fluctuations, and adjusted earnings per share of $ 2.35, which is consistent with current estimates of Wall Street.
Last year, unfavorable changes in exchange rates have put pressure on revenues, which decreased by 1%.
As for the US stock market as a whole, it rose during the first hours of the Thursday session. Dow Jones Industrial Average index rose 37.52 points (0.19%) to 20,091.86 points, Standard & Poor's 500 by that time rose 4.47 points (0.20%) to 2299.14 points, and NASDAQ rose 13.68 points (0.24%) to 5,696.14 points.