UBS has issued a buy note on London Stock Exchange Group PLC (LSE:LSEG), arguing that new disclosures around the company's Model Context Protocol server represent the first tangible evidence it can benefit from artificial intelligence adoption rather than be disrupted by it.
The broker, which carries a 11,500p price target on the stock against a current price of around 9,248.2p, said LSEG's shares have de-rated sharply since mid-2025 as investor concern mounted over AI's potential to erode its data and analytics business model.
UBS said the shares underperformed the broader market by 25% between June 2025 and early 2026, suffering two separate "AI Waves" of selling pressure, each resulting in share price declines of 18-20%, triggered by partnership announcements between AI companies and LSEG's competitors.
The broker characterises LSEG as a "show-me" story but said disclosures made at the company's full-year 2025 results materially changed the picture.
The financial services group revealed that the number of institutions accessing its MCP server, a data repository enabling third-party AI agents and models to query its licensed datasets in real time, increased from nine at the end of December 2025 to 67 by 20 February 2026.
UBS said the disclosure served three important purposes: it demonstrated AI can act as a distribution channel for LSEG's data; it highlighted rapidly growing demand from AI agents for LSEG content.
And it identified more than 300 prospective users who were denied access because they lacked an existing LSEG data licence, creating a direct pipeline of sales leads.
The broker also noted that access to the MCP server falls outside the perimeter of LSEG's existing enterprise data agreements, meaning it represents an incremental revenue opportunity rather than a cannibalisation of existing contracts.
UBS does not expect meaningful monetisation until early 2027, as LSEG is likely to offer discounted or free access in the near term to maximise adoption rates, particularly given that rival Bloomberg's own MCP server is accessible only through Bloomberg's internal AI platforms and not via third-party models such as Claude or ChatGPT.
The broker forecasts earnings per share of 464p for 2026, rising to 545p in 2027, and views the next trading update on 23 April as the near-term catalyst, expecting further MCP server client and usage disclosures.
UBS rates LSEG a 'buy' with a 15% total return forecast over 12 months.