RIO

Rio Tinto Improves Cash Flow in Weak Mining Environment

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Key Takeaways ·         Cost cuts helped Rio Tinto stomach weak commodity end markets. ·         Production increases buffered weak iron ore prices. ·         China remains a key driver of growth. Country data flow continues to contradict. ·         We continue to hold Rio Tinto in our Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio…but we think it could be a wild ride. Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio holding Rio Tinto (click ticker for report: ) announced weak, but better-than-expected, financial performance for the first half of 2013 Thursday. Earnings per share declined 71% year-over-year to $0.93, though revenue declined only 3% year-over-year to $24.5 billion as production increases were able to partially offset commodity price weakness. Underlying earnings per share, which is adjusted for one-time charges, exchange rates, and write-downs, … Read more

China Exports Suffer in June

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Yet another bearish story came out of China Wednesday morning, this time dealing with negative trade data (shown right). Exports for the month of June dropped 3.1% year-over-year versus a consensus expectation of 4% growth. This compares to anemic 1% growth in May. Imports also fell 0.7% year-over-year compared to a consensus expectation of 8%. Without question, we think it’s safe to say growth slowed in China during May and June. (Image Source: The Wall Street Journal). Though these figures were decidedly bearish regarding the health of economic activity in China, Alcoa (click ticker for report: ) provided bullish commentary on the region just yesterday. In fact, management at Alcoa believes China will drive the lion’s share of global growth … Read more

China News Flow Remains Bearish

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Earlier this week, the HSBC China Manufacturing PMI was released for the month of June, coming in at 48.2—marginally below the flash PMI of 48.3 we saw earlier in the month (and signaling further contraction). Image Source: Markit, HSBC It seems as though the economic decline in China is worsening, with HSBC noting that job-cutting intensified during the month, registering the most job losses since the Great Recession in 2009. We continue to see several structural issues with the nation, including potential excesses in the “shadow banking system” and increasing labor costs that could make the country a relatively less attractive market for global manufacturers. The cost of Chinese real estate remains in nosebleed territory, perhaps foreshadowing signs (or symptons) of the … Read more

Rio Tinto Doesn’t Sell Its Diamond Business

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In a slightly surprising move, Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio holding Rio Tinto (click ticker for report: ) announced that it will no longer pursue selling its diamond business. Miners have been looking to divest non-core assets to lower debt loads and increase returns to shareholders, so Rio’s decision to hold on to the business will obviously not help to achieve those goals. We’ve long cautioned that the impact of BHP (click ticker for report: ), Anglo American, and Rio selling assets at the same time could work to depress asset values, and that appears to be the case with respect to Rio’s diamond business. Rio Tinto wanted $1.3 billion for a business that was unprofitable in 2012 and only marginally … Read more

Why Valuentum’s Email Transaction Alerts Are Worth Paying Attention To

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Valuentum subscribers have noticed that we’ve been quite busy as of late, adding protection to our portfolio in the form of a broader-market put option and taking some large profits in Astronics (ATRO) and eBay (EBAY). We’ve highlighted our best-in-class hit rate–meaning that a large percentage of the firms we added to the portfolio are outperforming the broad market benchmark. But there are a couple ways of looking at our performance–the first is relative outperformance versus the market since inception, which is at 28 percentage points. Investors duplicating our portfolio are enjoying this outperformance. Another way of looking at our track record, however, is to evaluate the performance of additions to the portfolio on the long side (purchases) since inception–i.e. … Read more

Asset Divestitures Progress at Best Ideas Portfolio Holding Rio Tinto

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Image Source: Rio Tinto Due to concerns about economic growth in China and the corresponding impact on demand for iron ore, the broader mining sector has been under pressure during the past few months. Mining giants are looking to shed small or unproductive assets in order to strengthen balance sheets. Best Ideas Newsletter holding Rio Tinto (click ticker for report: ) made progress Thursday, shedding its Eagle project in the upper peninsula of Michigan for $325 million. The buyer is Canadian-based Lundin Mining Corp, which will take over the project that began 3 years ago and is approximately 55% complete. Eagle wasn’t a bad asset, as it is located in the US, is in an advanced stage of development, and … Read more

Caterpillar’s 2013 Doesn’t Look Great

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Global equipment manufacturer Caterpillar (click ticker for report: ) posted weak first-quarter results on the back of a decline in global mining capital expenditures. Revenue dropped 17% year-over-year to $13.2 billion, which was slightly below consensus expectations. Earnings tumbled 45% year-over-year to $1.31 per share, which was also worse than consensus estimates. The decline during the first quarter wasn’t much of a surprise as the outlook for mining capital expenditures fell precipitously as commodity prices tumbled. In fact, Cat’s revised outlook implies a 50% year-over-year decline in sales of the firm’s traditional mining equipment and a 15% decline in sales of the equipment sold by recently-acquired Bucyrus. Sales fell 23% in the resource segment for the quarter, and with most of the global mining … Read more

Rio Tinto Up Over 6%

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Shares of Rio Tinto (click ticker for report: ) are spiking on the back of a strong first quarter from Alcoa (click ticker for report: ). We continue to hold the name in the portfolio of our Best Ideas Newsletter.

Strong Iron Ore Supply Weighs on Rio Tinto

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Over the past several weeks, the diversified mining sector has been under attack, as Vale (ticker for report: ), BHP (click ticker for report: ) and Best Ideas Newsletter holding Rio Tinto (click ticker for report: ) have seen their share prices decline considerably. Given the relative performance of the S&P 500, as well as improving macro fundamentals in the United States, the decline may seem inexplicable—until we consider the dynamics of the iron ore industry. Iron ore (one of the most important and profitable commodities in recent years) prices rose over 60% in relatively short order during the beginning of the year, suggesting robust demand from China. However, China responded aggressively to the rise in prices, accusing the big … Read more