(Bloomberg) — Thomson Reuters Corp. shares fell despite positive first-quarter results after Anthropic PBC unveiled new artificial intelligence agents designed to handle a broader mix of financial services tasks.
Shares had rallied on Tuesday morning following the earnings report, then reversed course to fall as much as 5.1% after the Anthropic announcement dragged down sector peers. They were down 2% to C$127.94 as of 2:21 p.m. in Toronto.
Thomson Reuters’ main businesses provide databases, software and other products to legal and accounting professionals. The stock’s volatility over the past few months demonstrates how sensitive investors are to the risks that AI models may eventually hurt sales and margins.
Thomson Reuters shares fell the most on record on Feb. 3 after Anthropic announced a productivity tool to help automate legal work for companies. That sparked concerns that Thomson Reuters would lose market share to AI-powered newcomers, and shares closed down nearly 16%.
The stock then rebounded when the company’s AI tool for lawyers, CoCounsel, was touted on stage at an Anthropic-hosted briefing during which Chief Executive Officer Steve Hasker also presented. Thomson Reuters announced the same day, Feb. 24, that CoCounsel had reached 1 million users.
Thomson Reuters, which affirmed its full-year revenue guidance Tuesday, continues to see “broad-based positive signs” in terms of customer retention, Hasker told analysts during the earnings call. “So there is nothing new or worrying in terms of customers moving away from our content-driven technology products.”
An updated, agentic version of CoCounsel is in testing, the company said, with plans to launch in the third quarter.
Thomson Reuters earned $1.27 per share on an adjusted basis in its first quarter, more than the $1.21 expected by a Bloomberg survey of analysts. Revenue of $2.09 billion also beat expectations.
In an interview, Hasker acknowledged it may take “a few quarters” for investors to regain faith in the stock. “And I think this first-quarter result really helps,” he said. “I think it sort of shows the confidence that our customers have in our products, in our proposition.”
Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, competes with Thomson Reuters in providing financial data and news.
