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Rio TintoRIOCOMMENTNov 22, 2017Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jun 11, 2026. Market Open.
Copper, aluminum, iron ore. AI data centres and electrification will be huge drivers. Growth rate of data centres is off the charts, and the "picks and shovels" will benefit from that capex spending. Onshoring and nearshoring are increasing. Lots of long-life resource deposits.
HQ is in the UK. Mining is around the world, with a lot in Australia. Yield is 5.53%.
Hard to comment on rumours of takeovers. So let's go back to looking at the chart -- was in a longer-term downtrend, but broke out in middle of last year and has now broken out to new highs. Took out high from late 2023 and it's still going. Copper hit a new all-time high this week.
Background premise is that we've entered a structural bull market for commodity prices. For 15 years, no one invested in new capacity and so there's scarcity. The most important thing we're hedging against is inflation. For a metals producer, as costs go up they put their prices up.
Global dynamo, going through its own catalyst transition toward energy-transition metals like copper, lithium, and aluminum. Those things have fairly inelastic demand, given the growth in demand. If earnings double, then the multiple can double, and dividends can double. That adds up to a lot. History of paying large special dividends. Well diversified. Technically, looks very strong having broken out of a multi-year base. Yield is 3.79%.
Likes materials, likes copper. Significant iron ore component (close to 60%), and iron ore hasn't been as strong. Asia is getting better, and China is strengthening. So that's positive. Long-term chart is very attractive. Trading below 200-week MA, he'd like to see it break out; if it can trade north of $65, thinks it would. Solid dividends and special dividends. Big cashflow. Might be just a bit early.
See his Top Picks.
His general view on the oil majors is effectively the same that he has on the mining majors, that is, we have sort of come through the other side. In many ways, what happened to mining is similar to what happened to oil. There were big supply issues which are slowly coming to an end. Copper has worked, global has been interesting, etc. This is a little more expensive than it was 18 months ago, but still relatively cheap. He prefers BHP Billiton (BHP-N), but doesn’t have any problem with buying this company here.