Further support for London Stock Exchange Group PLC and its ability to capitalise on growing demand for financial data in an artificial intelligence-driven world, with RBC Capital Markets adding its voice after hosting meetings with the company's chief financial officer.
It has been a turbulent couple of months for the FTSE 100 group, with LSEG among a selection of data and analytics stocks caught in a sharp sell-off after the emergence of new 'agentic' AI tools prompted investors to question the long-term value of subscription-based financial data businesses.
The shares have since stabilised, helped in part by news that activist hedge fund Elliott Management has built a stake and begun engaging with the board, and by last week's full-year results in which LSEG announced a £3 billion buyback and pushed back firmly on the AI threat narrative.
RBC analyst Ben Bathurst said fears about AI disrupting LSEG's seat-based model were "overdone", with just 6% of group revenues coming from Workspace users classified as non-traders, he noted, with most having the platform deeply embedded in regulated workflows.
"We believe the recent sell-off in relation to perceived 'threats' from agentic AI is overdone, and overlooks the opportunities presented by the group's partnership with Microsoft and the potential for growth in demand for the group's world-class financial data," he wrote.
He said he believes the explanations offered around the protective moats are "becoming incrementally clearer".
The analyst sees "an attractive risk/reward for LSEG's shares" with the shares trading at 19 times his 2026 forecast earnings, around a 20% discount to data provider peer multiples of 23 times, and said he sees "value in the shares even when effectively no value is ascribed to the Workflows business".
RBC's 'outperform' rating was reiterated and 13,500p price target, implying upside of around 58% from current levels.