RIO share price in focus
Founded in 1873, Rio Tinto is today the world’s second largest metal and mining company, behind only BHP Group. Rio Tinto is engaged in minerals and metals exploration, development, production and processing.
Rio can be divided into four core business units: Aluminium, Copper & Diamonds, Energy & Minerals and Iron Ore.
Of the four units, iron ore (the primary component in steel manufacturing) is by far the largest export. It’s no surprise then that the performance of the company can be strongly affected by the price of iron ore and other key commodities, making earnings somewhat volatile.
SHL shares
Sonic Healthcare was listed in April 1987. It is now one of the world’s biggest pathology businesses with operations in Australia, New Zealand, Europe and North America.
It offers a number of different services including laboratory medicine, pathology, diagnostic imaging, radiology, general practice medicine and corporate medical services.
Sonic Healthcare looks to act in the best interests of its doctors and their patients. It aims to provide medical excellence as well as being a highly desirable place to work.
RIO & SHL share price valuation
One way to have a ‘fast read’ of where the RIO share price is could be to study something like dividend yield over time. This can give us a sense of the stability of the company and whether they can consistently pay out a percentage of profits.
Remember, the dividend yield is basically the ‘cash flow’ to a shareholder, but it can fluctuate year-to-year or between payments. Currently, Rio Tinto Ltd shares have a dividend yield of around 5.48%, compared to its 5-year average of 6.80%. In other words, RIO shares are trading lower than their historical average dividend yield. Be careful how you interpret this information though – it could mean that dividends have fallen, or that the share price is increasing, or both. In the case of RIO, we can see that last year’s dividend was less than the 3-year average, so the dividend has been falling.
Since SHL is more of a ‘growth’ company than an established blue chip, a price-sales ratio might be a more appropriate assessment. This ratio gives us an idea of how the company has historically been valued relative to its earnings, which can indicate if the company is over or undervalued today. The SHL share price currently trades at a price-sales ratio of 1.37x, which compares to its 5-year long-term average of 1.94x. So, SHL shares are trading lower than their historical average. Don’t forget, a simple multiple like this should only be the start of your research. The Rask websites offer free online investing courses, created by analysts explaining things like Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) and Dividend Discount Models (DDM). They even include free valuation spreadsheets! It’s a good idea to use multiple valuation methods to value a share like Sonic Healthcare Ltd.
