The Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) share price will be one to watch tomorrow with the expected release of the miners’ half-year financial report.
About Rio Tinto
Rio Tinto’s origins date back more than 145 years, but today it is one of world’s largest aluminium and iron ore producers, with much of its sales revenue coming from its operates in Western Australia. It also owns, fully or partly, mining projects for copper, diamonds, uranium and other minerals.
What’s Happened Already
The comforting aspect for shareholders when it comes to financial reporting from the likes of Rio Tinto and rival BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) is that they release their production results before their financial results (due out tomorrow). It also makes the job for analysts providing forecasts just a little bit easier!
Indeed, when Rio Tinto reported its results earlier this month, Pilbara iron ore shipments fell by 3% compared to a year ago to 85.4Mt in the June quarter. In the first half of 2019, iron ore shipments were down 8%. Rio blamed the lower number in April on recovery works due to Tropical Cyclone Veronica. Pilbara iron ore production was down 7% over the quarter and also down 8% over the half-year.
What To Expect From Rio Tomorrow
According to data from Vuma analyst consensus, analysts expect to see Rio Tinto report revenue of $US21.7 billion and an underlying EBITDA result of $US10 billion. That’s based on 17 analyst forecasts. For context, Rio’s EBITDA result in the first half of 2018 was $US9.2 billion.
Given the slowdown in iron ore shipments, investors will be keenly watching to see if the revenue from the iron ore business hit the analysts’ forecast of $US10.9 billion.
And for income-hungry investors, analysts are tipping a half-year dividend of $US1.78 per share. Here’s hoping that happens! Personally, I’d rather own more reliable dividend-paying shares such as those in the free report below.
[ls_content_block id=”14945″ para=”paragraphs”]
Disclosure: At the time of publishing, Owen does not have a financial interest in any of the companies mentioned.
