Rio Tinto Group (RIO) Competitors

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

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, BHP or RIO?

Rio Tinto Group has lower revenue, but higher earnings 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
BHP Group	£56.03B	1.86	£7.90B	£1.19	1,724.20
Rio Tinto Group	£54.18B	1.16	£10.75B	£5.04	1,000.20

Do analysts recommend BHP or RIO?

BHP Group presently has a consensus target price of GBX 2,700, suggesting a potential upside of 31.59%. Rio Tinto Group has a consensus target price of GBX 6,203.75, suggesting a potential upside of 23.07%. Given BHP Group's higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe BHP Group is more favorable than Rio Tinto Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BHP Group	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.29
Rio Tinto Group	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75

Is BHP or RIO a better dividend stock?

BHP Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 113 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.5%. Rio Tinto Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 338 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.7%. BHP Group pays out 9,495.8% 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 pays out 6,706.3% 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.

Is BHP or RIO more profitable?

Rio Tinto Group has a net margin of 19.84% compared to BHP Group's net margin of 14.10%. Rio Tinto Group's return on equity of 19.72% beat BHP Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BHP Group	14.10%	19.66%	13.98%
Rio Tinto Group	19.84%	19.72%	9.23%

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in BHP or RIO?

Rio Tinto Group received 2015 more outperform votes than BHP Group when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 70.33% of users gave Rio Tinto Group an outperform vote while only 39.35% of users gave BHP Group an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
BHP Group	Outperform Votes 109 39.35%	Underperform Votes 168 60.65%
Rio Tinto Group	Outperform Votes 2124 70.33%	Underperform Votes 896 29.67%

Which has more risk and volatility, BHP or RIO?

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

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of BHP or RIO?

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

Does the media prefer BHP or RIO?

In the previous week, Rio Tinto Group had 2 more articles in the media than BHP Group. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for Rio Tinto Group and 3 mentions for BHP Group. BHP Group's average media sentiment score of 0.17 beat Rio Tinto Group's score of -0.06 indicating that BHP Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
BHP Group	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Rio Tinto Group	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

Rio Tinto Group beats BHP Group on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.