Rio Tinto Group (RIO) Competitors

Rio Tinto Group (LON:RIO) and BHP Group (LON:BHP) are both large-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, earnings, media sentiment, valuation, institutional ownership and community ranking.

Which has more volatility & risk, RIO or BHP?

Rio Tinto Group has a beta of 0.59, meaning that its share price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BHP Group has a beta of 0.84, meaning that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer RIO or BHP?

Rio Tinto Group received 2016 more outperform votes than BHP Group when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 70.32% of users gave Rio Tinto Group an outperform vote while only 38.93% of users gave BHP Group an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Rio Tinto Group	Outperform Votes 2125 70.32%	Underperform Votes 897 29.68%
BHP Group	Outperform Votes 109 38.93%	Underperform Votes 171 61.07%

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in RIO or BHP?

48.0% of Rio Tinto Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.2% of BHP Group shares are held by institutional investors. 14.6% of Rio Tinto Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.6% of BHP Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts rate RIO or BHP?

Rio Tinto Group currently has a consensus target price of GBX 6,241.25, suggesting a potential upside of 31.98%. BHP Group has a consensus target price of GBX 2,713.33, suggesting a potential upside of 42.88%. Given BHP Group's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe BHP Group is more favorable than Rio Tinto Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Rio Tinto Group	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.71
BHP Group	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Is RIO or BHP more profitable?

Rio Tinto Group has a net margin of 19.84% compared to BHP Group's net margin of 14.09%. Rio Tinto Group's return on equity of 19.57% beat BHP Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Rio Tinto Group	19.84%	19.57%	9.23%
BHP Group	14.09%	18.32%	13.98%

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, RIO or BHP?

Rio Tinto Group has higher earnings, but lower revenue than BHP Group. Rio Tinto Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BHP Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Rio Tinto Group	£69.64B	1.42	£13.82B	£528.17	8.95
BHP Group	£70.41B	1.72	£9.92B	£123.55	15.37

Is RIO or BHP a better dividend stock?

Rio Tinto Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 338 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.1%. BHP Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 113 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.0%. Rio Tinto Group pays out 64.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. BHP Group pays out 91.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Rio Tinto Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the media favor RIO or BHP?

In the previous week, BHP Group had 3 more articles in the media than Rio Tinto Group. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for BHP Group and 1 mentions for Rio Tinto Group. BHP Group's average media sentiment score of 0.68 beat Rio Tinto Group's score of 0.02 indicating that BHP Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Rio Tinto Group	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
BHP Group	1 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Rio Tinto Group beats BHP Group on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.