Pearson plc (PSO) Stock Price & How to Invest
Last updated July 2026
Short answer
PSO is the New York listing of Pearson plc, the London-headquartered education company behind Pearson VUE testing, Pearson Online Academy virtual schools, Pearson Edexcel qualifications, the Pearson Test of English and a large US higher-education courseware business. It is a sponsored ADR rather than a US common stock: each ADS represents one Pearson ordinary share, the shares themselves trade on the London Stock Exchange under PSON, and the company reports in pounds sterling, so almost every dollar figure you see on a US screener is a converted number rather than a reported one.
PSO stock price
As of 2026-08-21, Pearson plc (PSO) last closed at $16.28, up 9.5% over the past year. Over the past 52 weeks it has traded between $12.06 and $17.64.
Prices are daily closing prices from Yahoo Finance and may be delayed. For the live quote, check your broker or Pearson plc's investor relations page. Walnut is informational, not investment advice.
What does Pearson plc (PSO) do?
Pearson plc is a ~180-year-old British education company that runs five global business units. Assessment & Qualifications is the largest, at ~£1,604 million of 2025 revenue, and covers Pearson VUE computer-based testing centres, Pearson Edexcel and BTEC qualifications in the UK and internationally, US state student assessment contracts, and clinical assessment products. Higher Education, at ~£775 million, is the US and international courseware business built around MyLab, Mastering and the Pearson+ subscription, now increasingly sold through Inclusive Access deals where the institution bundles materials into tuition. Virtual Learning, ~£511 million, operates full-time online public schools and the Pearson Online Academy under long-term contracts with US school districts and charter authorities. English Language Learning, ~£405 million, is the Pearson Test of English plus institutional English courseware. Enterprise Learning & Skills, ~£282 million, sells vocational qualifications and corporate reskilling programmes and is where the group's AI certification and partnership deals sit. The mix has moved decisively away from paper: of ~£3,577 million of 2025 revenue, ~£2,073 million was services, ~£972 million software and only ~£532 million print. The United States is by far the largest market at ~£2,400 million, or about ~67% of group revenue, with the UK at ~£450 million.
The investment picture is a turnaround that is working on the profit line faster than on the revenue line. Trailing twelve-month revenue through June 2026 is roughly ~£3,634 million, barely above the ~£3,577 million of full-year 2025 and below the ~£3,841 million Pearson booked in 2022, because growth in Virtual Learning and Enterprise is being partly offset by declines in English Language Learning and international courseware. Profitability is a different story: first-half 2026 adjusted operating profit rose ~14% underlying to ~£276 million with the margin up ~140 basis points to ~15.5%, adjusted earnings per share rose ~18% to ~28.9p, and free cash flow rose ~£103 million to ~£259 million. Management reiterated 2026 guidance on 31 July 2026 for mid-single-digit underlying revenue growth and adjusted operating profit of ~£640 million to ~£685 million at a ~1.35 dollar-to-pound rate. At ~1,195p in London and ~$16.28 per ADR in New York, the market value is around ~£7.2 billion (~$9.8 billion), which is roughly ~24x trailing statutory earnings, ~18x trailing adjusted earnings and about ~16x forward estimates. Two things sit on top of that arithmetic: Cevian Capital has built a position of ~19.17% of the ordinary shares, disclosed in an April 2026 Schedule 13D/A, and the US sell-side consensus price target sits marginally below the current ADR price, which is unusual and reflects a genuine split of opinion on whether generative AI expands Pearson's addressable market or eats its courseware.
What's driving Pearson plc (PSO)?
1. Reskilling and enterprise as the intended growth engine
Enterprise Learning & Skills grew revenue ~7% in the first half of 2026 to ~£180 million and swung adjusted operating profit to ~£51 million from ~£43 million, the fastest-improving margin in the group. The pitch is that AI displacement creates demand for certification and vocational requalification, and Pearson has been signing evidence for it: a new agreement with a leading AI lab to deliver that lab's global certification programme, plus a partnership with Adobe, both announced with the interim results. This unit is still only about ~8% of group revenue, so it changes the story before it changes the numbers.
2. Virtual Learning compounding while Assessment stabilises
Virtual Learning revenue grew ~19% underlying in the first half to ~£280 million, with enrolment growth accelerating to ~15% in the spring semester and adjusted operating profit rising to ~£49 million from ~£39 million. Assessment & Qualifications, the biggest unit at ~£803 million of first-half revenue, returned to growth in the second quarter as expected but saw adjusted operating profit fall to ~£157 million from ~£170 million, held back by the previously disclosed loss of the New Jersey state student assessment contract. Because Assessment contracts are multi-year and re-bid in lumps, a single win or loss moves a full year, which is why the segment's revenue line is flatter than its underlying market.
3. AI as product, as licensing claim, and as the central threat
Pearson embeds AI study tools across its courseware, including the Go Deeper feature in higher education and AI-driven diagnostics inside Study Prep, and Inclusive Access grew ~20% to reach ~50% of the core US courseware business, which is the mechanism that ties revenue to enrolment rather than to individual purchase decisions. On the intellectual-property side, Pearson is a claimant in the Bartz et al v. Anthropic class settlement that received final court approval on 20 July 2026 and expects to be eligible for a distribution on qualifying titles, though nothing has been recognised in the accounts because the amount and timing are not yet determined. The same technology that produces those claims is also the clearest substitution risk to paid courseware, and Pearson's own annual report lists artificial intelligence as a named principal risk.
4. Capital returns and an activist holding roughly a fifth of the register
Pearson completed a ~£350 million buyback in May 2026, retiring around ~35 million shares at a cash cost of ~£352 million, following a ~£350 million programme in 2025 that retired around ~32 million shares. Shares outstanding have fallen from ~635.8 million at the end of 2025 to roughly ~601 million. The interim dividend was raised ~5% to ~8.2p, payable 14 September 2026, against a ~17.4p final for 2025. Meanwhile Cevian Capital disclosed ~116,765,346 ordinary shares, or ~19.17% of the class, in a Schedule 13D/A dated for an event of 16 April 2026, up from ~15.26% in January, which is a large enough holding to shape capital allocation and portfolio decisions without being a bid.
What are the risks to Pearson plc (PSO)?
The revenue line is the problem the profit line masks: trailing twelve-month revenue of ~£3,634 million is below what Pearson booked in 2022 and 2023, and English Language Learning declined ~3% in the first half as the Pearson Test of English met tougher study-abroad demand, tighter migration policy and geopolitical disruption that management expects to persist near term. Currency is a structural distortion rather than a footnote, because roughly ~67% of revenue is earned in the United States while the accounts are kept in sterling, so a stronger pound compresses reported growth and Pearson has to state 2026 guidance at a fixed ~1.35 rate for the numbers to be comparable at all. Leverage moved the wrong way in the period, with net debt rising from ~£1,069 million at the end of 2025 to ~£1,343 million at 30 June 2026 after the buyback and a new ~£350 million bond, though the group reported ~£1.3 billion of available liquidity and comfortable covenant headroom under its severe-but-plausible downside scenario. The balance sheet also carries ~£2,452 million of goodwill against roughly ~£3.3 billion of equity, so an impairment in any single unit would be visible. Finally, US sell-side sentiment is cautious: Goldman Sachs downgraded to Neutral on 4 August 2026, the aggregate consensus target of ~$15.70 sits slightly below the ~$16.28 ADR price, and the shares fell on results day despite the beat, which is what a market looks like when it doubts the durability rather than the delivery.
Is PSO a buy or a sell?
We give no verdict on Pearson plc. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.
The case for buying. Reskilling and enterprise as the intended growth engine. Enterprise Learning & Skills grew revenue ~7% in the first half of 2026 to ~£180 million and swung adjusted operating profit to ~£51 million from ~£43 million, the fastest-improving margin in the group.
The case against. The revenue line is the problem the profit line masks: trailing twelve-month revenue of ~£3,634 million is below what Pearson booked in 2022 and 2023, and English Language Learning declined ~3% in the first half as the Pearson Test of English met tougher study-abroad demand, tighter migration policy and geopolitical disruption that management expects to persist near term.
Read the full bull and bear case on PSO, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.
How is Pearson plc (PSO) valued? (approximate, August 2026)
A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Pearson plc's investor relations page or your broker.
- Revenue (TTM, reported in GBP): ~£3,634 million for the twelve months to 30 June 2026 (roughly ~$4.9 billion translated at ~1.35 US dollars per pound, the rate Pearson uses for guidance); first-half 2026 revenue ~£1,779 million, up ~4% underlying from ~£1,722 million; full-year 2025 ~£3,577 million
- Profit: First-half 2026 adjusted operating profit ~£276 million, up ~14% underlying, margin ~15.5% versus ~14.1%; statutory operating profit ~£252 million versus ~£240 million; profit for the period ~£149 million versus ~£166 million; adjusted diluted EPS ~28.6p and basic EPS ~24.0p. Full-year 2025 adjusted operating profit was ~£614 million and 2026 guidance is ~£640 million to ~£685 million
- Segment revenue and adjusted profit (H1 2026, GBP): Assessment & Qualifications ~£803 million revenue and ~£157 million profit; Higher Education ~£350 million and ~£21 million; Virtual Learning ~£280 million and ~£49 million; Enterprise Learning & Skills ~£180 million and ~£51 million; English Language Learning ~£166 million and a loss of ~£2 million
- Cash and balance sheet (GBP): First-half operating cash flow ~£337 million (up ~167%) and free cash flow ~£259 million (up ~66%); net debt ~£1,343 million at 30 June 2026 versus ~£1,069 million at 31 December 2025, or ~£944 million excluding leases; cash ~£339 million and total available liquidity around ~£1.3 billion; UK pension surplus ~£506 million; goodwill ~£2,452 million
- Market pricing: ~$16.28 per ADR on the NYSE and ~1,195p per ordinary share on the LSE (21 August 2026), for a market value near ~£7.2 billion or ~$9.8 billion on roughly ~601 million shares; about ~24x trailing statutory EPS of ~50.6p, ~18x trailing adjusted EPS of ~68.0p, ~16x forward estimates, ~2.0x sales and ~15x EV/EBITDA on an enterprise value near ~$11.8 billion; ADR 52-week range ~$12.02 to ~$17.75
- Capital returns: 2026 interim dividend ~8.2p, up ~5%, payable 14 September 2026 on a 14 August 2026 record date, following a ~17.4p 2025 final for a trailing total near ~25.2p, a yield around ~2.1%; a ~£350 million buyback completed in May 2026 retiring around ~35 million shares at ~£352 million, after a ~£350 million programme in 2025
These figures are approximate, stamped to August 2026, and drawn from Pearson's 2025 Form 20-F, the 2025 annual report and the 31 July 2026 interim results filed on Form 6-K, so check live data before acting on any of them. The single most common error with PSO is treating a screener's dollar figure as something Pearson reported: the company keeps its books in pounds sterling under IFRS, and at least one widely used screen has published the ~£3.63 billion trailing revenue figure with a dollar sign in front of it, which understates the business by roughly a third. The other thing worth holding in mind is the gap between statutory and adjusted profit, which for 2025 was ~£505 million of statutory operating profit against ~£614 million adjusted, mostly product development impairment and intangible amortisation, so the trailing multiple looks very different depending on which line you use.
Who competes with Pearson plc (PSO)?
Assessment, testing and qualifications
Pearson VUE competes with Prometric and Certiport-style delivery networks for professional and IT certification exams, while the state student assessment business bids against Cambium Assessment, NWEA (now part of HMH) and ETS for multi-year US contracts, and Pearson Edexcel competes with AQA, OCR and Cambridge International in UK and international qualifications. This is the group's profit centre and its most defensible position, because testing requires accredited delivery infrastructure and psychometric validation rather than content alone. It is also lumpy: the loss of a single state contract, such as New Jersey, was enough to hold first-half segment profit below the prior year.
Higher education courseware and learning platforms
MyLab, Mastering and Pearson+ compete with Cengage, McGraw Hill Education, Wiley, Elsevier and open educational resource providers such as OpenStax, alongside Chegg and course-adjacent AI study tools that answer the same homework questions for free or near-free. The structural shift here is Inclusive Access, where materials are billed through the institution rather than sold to the student, which raises attach rates and reduces piracy at the cost of lower per-student pricing. It grew ~20% and now represents about ~50% of core US courseware, so the segment's economics are increasingly institutional rather than retail.
Language testing and workforce reskilling
The Pearson Test of English competes directly with IELTS (British Council and IDP) and the ETS-owned TOEFL, plus challengers such as Duolingo English Test, in a market whose volume is set by student-visa and migration policy rather than by product quality. In enterprise reskilling and vocational qualifications, Pearson sits alongside Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, Udemy Business, City & Guilds and the certification arms of the large technology vendors themselves. Certification programmes run on behalf of AI labs and software companies are the newest front, and the vendor is both customer and potential competitor in the same deal.
What stocks are similar to Pearson plc (PSO)?
Other names that sit close to PSO: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.
How to invest in Pearson plc (PSO)
There are three common ways to get PSO exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so PSO sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.
Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where PSO fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.
New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.
The bottom line on Pearson plc (PSO)
Pearson in 2026 is a slow-growing but cash-generative education group that is shifting from courseware to assessment and workforce reskilling, priced at a mid-teens forward multiple with an activist holding roughly a fifth of the register and the AI question cutting both ways.
More on Pearson plc (PSO)
Whether PSO is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is PSO a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the PSO stock forecast.
For income investors, whether PSO pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does PSO pay a dividend? And to weigh PSO against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: PSO vs NJR and PSO vs MH.
Wondering how PSO fits the portfolio you already own? Walnut is an AI investing app that connects your brokerage read-only and answers questions like that about your actual holdings: overlap, concentration, and how each position tracks the S&P 500. Compare the best AI portfolio analyzers or see the best AI investing apps in 2026.
Investing in Pearson plc with AI
Connect the broker you already use and ask Walnut's AI how PSO fits what you actually hold: whether you own it already through a fund, what it would do to your concentration, and how it has tracked the S&P 500. Read-only by default, and you approve anything before it reaches your broker.
FAQ
What is PSO, and what does Pearson actually do?
+
PSO is the NYSE ticker for Pearson plc, a British education company headquartered at 80 Strand in London. It runs five units: Assessment & Qualifications (Pearson VUE test centres, Pearson Edexcel and BTEC, US state student assessment, clinical assessment), Higher Education (US and international courseware, MyLab, Mastering, Pearson+), Virtual Learning (full-time online public schools and Pearson Online Academy), English Language Learning (the Pearson Test of English and institutional English products) and Enterprise Learning & Skills (vocational qualifications and corporate reskilling). Full-year 2025 revenue was ~£3,577 million, with the United States accounting for ~£2,400 million of it. Pearson sold its Penguin Random House stake and its US K12 courseware business years ago, so it is no longer a trade book publisher despite its SEC industry code.
Is PSO an ADR, and how does it relate to the London listing?
+
Yes. PSO is an American Depositary Share traded on the NYSE under a sponsored ADR facility with JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. as depositary. Each ADS represents exactly one Pearson ordinary share of 25p par value, so the ratio is 1:1 and the two prices track each other through the exchange rate: ~1,195p in London on 21 August 2026 corresponded to ~$16.28 in New York. The principal trading market is the London Stock Exchange, where the ordinary shares trade under PSON and are a FTSE 100 constituent. Pearson established the ADR facility in March 1995, amended it in August 2014 for the NYSE listing, and amended it again in January 2025 when JPMorgan Chase Bank was appointed depositary. The ordinary shares themselves are registered with the SEC under Section 12(b) but marked not for trading, which is standard for this structure. The depositary charges holders fees for issuance, cancellation and annual servicing, which is a real if small cost of owning the ADR rather than the London line.
Why do Pearson's figures look so different on US financial sites?
+
Because Pearson reports in pounds sterling under IFRS and US screeners convert. Trailing twelve-month revenue through June 2026 is roughly ~£3,634 million as Pearson reports it, which becomes about ~$4.8 billion to ~$4.9 billion depending on the rate applied. At least one widely used equity screen has published the ~£3.63 billion figure with a dollar sign in front of it, which makes the business look roughly a third smaller than it is. The same distortion affects earnings and margins in reverse. When comparing Pearson to a US peer, it is worth taking the sterling figures from the 20-F or the interim results and doing the conversion once, at a rate you have chosen, rather than trusting a screener's undated translation.
How did Pearson perform in the first half of 2026?
+
Revenue rose ~4% underlying to ~£1,779 million and adjusted operating profit rose ~14% underlying to ~£276 million, lifting the margin ~140 basis points to ~15.5%. Adjusted earnings per share increased ~18% to ~28.9p and free cash flow rose ~£103 million to ~£259 million. Virtual Learning was the standout at ~19% growth, Enterprise Learning & Skills grew ~7%, Assessment & Qualifications grew ~2% and returned to growth in the second quarter, Higher Education grew ~2% and English Language Learning declined ~3%. Statutory profit for the period fell to ~£149 million from ~£166 million, largely on higher finance costs and a one-off tax charge from settling a US insurance policy. Management reiterated full-year guidance for mid-single-digit underlying revenue growth and ~£640 million to ~£685 million of adjusted operating profit.
Does PSO pay a dividend, and how is it taxed for a US holder?
+
Pearson pays semi-annually. The 2026 interim dividend is ~8.2p per share, up ~5%, payable 14 September 2026 to holders on the register at 14 August 2026, following a ~17.4p final for 2025. That is roughly ~25.2p on a trailing basis, or about ~$0.35 per ADR, a yield near ~2.1% at ~$16.28. The United Kingdom does not impose withholding tax on dividends paid by Pearson, which is unusual among European ADRs and removes the withholding drag that reduces the effective yield on many foreign listings. US holders are generally treated as owners of the underlying ordinary shares for both US federal and UK tax purposes. The depositary converts sterling to dollars, so the dollar amount received varies with the exchange rate on the conversion date, and depositary fees may be deducted from the distribution. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and this is a description of the disclosed structure, not tax advice.
Who is Cevian Capital and why does its stake matter?
+
Cevian Capital is a European activist investment firm that has been on Pearson's register since 2020 and has been adding aggressively. Its Schedule 13D/A filings show the stake crossing ~15.26% in mid-January 2026, ~16.63% by the end of that month, and ~116,765,346 ordinary shares or ~19.17% of the class in the amendment filed 20 April 2026 for an event dated 16 April 2026. A holding approaching a fifth of a FTSE 100 company gives real influence over board composition, capital allocation and any decision to separate or sell a business unit, without conferring control. It is not a takeover offer, and Pearson has not announced any transaction; the practical effect is that portfolio simplification and capital return are likelier to stay on the agenda than they would be with a purely passive register.
Is artificial intelligence a threat to Pearson or an opportunity?
+
Both, and the company frames it as both. On the opportunity side, Pearson embeds AI study tools across its courseware, sells enterprise reskilling that exists because AI is displacing tasks, and has signed a certification agreement with a leading AI lab plus a partnership with Adobe. It is also a claimant in the Bartz et al v. Anthropic class settlement, which received final court approval on 20 July 2026, and expects to be eligible for a distribution on qualifying titles, with nothing recognised in the accounts because the amount and timing are unresolved. On the threat side, a free chatbot answers many of the questions students previously paid Chegg or a courseware subscription to answer, and Pearson's own 2025 annual report lists artificial intelligence as a named principal risk. Which force dominates is the central unresolved question in the valuation, and it is a large part of why the US sell-side consensus target sits slightly below the current price.
Has Pearson been a takeover target, and is a bid live now?
+
There is no announced offer for Pearson as of August 2026. The company did reject two approaches from Apollo Global Management in 2022, at 800p and then 854.2p per share, both of which the board judged to significantly undervalue the business, and the shares now trade well above those levels at ~1,195p. Guidance was reiterated at the July 2026 interim results rather than withdrawn, which is what a company under an active transaction typically does not do. What is live is activist pressure rather than a bid: Cevian Capital holds ~19.17% of the ordinary shares, and roughly ~30% of the register is now North American, a shift Pearson itself has commented on. Anyone reading the price should treat it as a view on the operating business, not as deal arithmetic.
Walnut is informational, not investment advice. Financial figures on this page are approximations; always verify current numbers with Pearson plc's investor relations page or your broker before making investment decisions.