Mining companies like Rio Tinto were in favor last year amid prospects for growth as the Covid pandemic wanes, and from Congress passing a huge infrastructure bill. However, miners' stocks, like most industries, nose-dived early this year amid market retrenchment. Mining giant Rio Tinto continues to put up healthy profit and sales growth numbers though. And on Thursday Rio Tinto stock's price Relative Strength (RS) Rating, shot up 12 points to 82, from 70 the day before.
Market research shows that top-performing stocks tend to have an RS Rating of at least 80 in the early stages of their moves. Rio Tinto stock just joined that group of the best stocks to watch and buy.
Rio Tinto Stock Among Top 6%
Among its other key ratings, U.K.-based Rio Tinto has an excellent 94 EPS Rating and coincidentally its stock has a 94 Composite Rating, putting it among the top 6% of stocks.
The IBD Composite Rating helps investors easily measure the quality of a stock's fundamental and technical metrics. The best growth stocks have a Composite Rating of 90 or better.
One yellow flag to note is its E Accumulation/Distribution Rating on an A+ to E scale. The E rating shows that institutional investors like mutual funds and insurance investment funds will need more convincing before they jump on board.
See How IBD Helps You Make More Money In Stocks
While Rio Tinto stock is not near a proper entry right now, see if it manages to form and break out of a proper chart pattern.
Rio Tinto reported 20% earnings growth last quarter, to $2.85 per share. Sales also grew 20% to $15.2 billion. Keep an eye out for the company's next round of numbers on or around April 28.
Rio Tinto stock holds the No. 6 rank among its peers in the Mining-Metal Ores industry group. Alcoa and Freeport McMoRan are also among the group's highest-rated stocks.
When looking for the best stocks to buy and watch, one factor to watch closely is relative price strength.
IBD's unique RS Rating tracks market leadership by showing how a stock's price movement over the last 52 weeks compares to that of the other stocks in our database.
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