Rio Tinto Plc RIO

Competitive advantage analysis · basic-materials

Corporate Default
Overall moat score
83/100
Strong

About Rio Tinto Plc

Rio Tinto Group engages in exploring, mining, and processing mineral resources worldwide. The company operates through Iron Ore; Aluminium and lithium; and Copper segments. The Iron Ore segment engages in the iron ore mining, and salt and gypsum production in Western Australia. The Aluminum and lithium segment is involved in bauxite mining; alumina refining; and aluminium smelting, and recycling, as … Full RIO analysis →

Competitive advantage assessment

Key strengths

  • Margins Consistently Above Peers Gross margin at 57.4% (top 14%) and operating margin at 25.9% (top 7%) indicate strong pricing power.
  • Margins Stable Across Cycles Operating margin volatility is low (stability score 0.88), demonstrating pricing resilience across cycles.

The dashed ring is the peer median. Defense scores are percentile ranks against peers, so 50 is roughly the typical company in this group.

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Pricing Power

Strong
89

Where RIO ranks in Other Industrial Metals & Mining

Rio Tinto Plc ranks #2 of 48 scored companies in Other Industrial Metals & Mining by moat score — the top 4%. The widest moat in the group is BHP Group Limited (BHP) at 88/100.

Moat scores for companies ranked near RIO in Other Industrial Metals & Mining
# Company Moat score Rating
1 BHP Group Limited BHP 88/100 Strong
2 Rio Tinto Plc RIO 83/100 Strong
3 Materion Corporation MTRN 78/100 Strong
4 Nexa Resources S.A. NEXA 76/100 Strong
5 VALE S.A. VALE 73/100 Moderate
6 Teck Resources Ltd TECK 70/100 Moderate
7 Compass Minerals Intl Inc CMP 64/100 Moderate
8 Vizsla Silver Corp. VZLA 64/100 Moderate
9 Solitario Resources Corp. XPL 59/100 Moderate

See every Commodities & Mining company ranked by moat score →

How RIO scores on the Corporate Default defenses

Pricing Power

Score 89 · 20% of the moat score

Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.

Cost Advantage

Score 89 · 15% of the moat score

A cost advantage means delivering the same product for structurally less — better purchasing, denser distribution, a more automated process.

Customer Stickiness

Score 90 · 15% of the moat score

Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.

Capital Efficiency

Score 87 · 18% of the moat score

Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.

Resilience

Score 63 · 17% of the moat score

Resilience is the capacity to get through a bad year on its own terms — enough liquidity, enough interest cover, and enough cash generation to avoid a rescue financing or a forced sale.

Scale & Market Position

Score 77 · 15% of the moat score

Scale matters only when it converts into economics.

How each Corporate Default defense is measured, in full →

Understanding RIO's moat

What is Rio Tinto Plc's moat score?

Rio Tinto Plc (RIO) scores 82 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as strong. It ranks #2 of 48 scored companies in Other Industrial Metals & Mining, the top 4%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 47 companies in Other Industrial Metals & Mining. Its strongest defense is Customer Stickiness (90/100) and its weakest is Resilience (63/100).

How does Rio Tinto Plc compare with other Other Industrial Metals & Mining companies?

Rio Tinto Plc ranks #2 of 48 scored companies in Other Industrial Metals & Mining by moat score. The widest moat in Other Industrial Metals & Mining is BHP Group Limited (BHP) at 88/100. The companies ranked closest are BHP Group Limited (BHP) at 88 just above it and Materion Corporation (MTRN) at 78 just below it.

How is the moat score calculated?

Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Corporate Default in this case, chosen because the defenses that matter to a bank are not the ones that matter to a software company. Every defense combines several financial signals, and each signal is measured as a percentile against a peer group of 47 companies in Other Industrial Metals & Mining. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is Rio Tinto Plc scored with the Corporate Default template?

Most public companies sell a product or a service at a margin, so the moat question is whether that margin survives contact with competitors. The Corporate template scores the six defenses that show up in a general operating company's financial signature: whether it can hold price, produce more cheaply than rivals, keep its customers, earn a return above its cost of capital, withstand a downturn, and turn size into economics.

Which competitive defenses are measured for Rio Tinto Plc?

The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and RIO scores: Pricing Power (89), Cost Advantage (89), Customer Stickiness (90), Capital Efficiency (87), Resilience (63), Scale & Market Position (77). Each is scored independently as a percentile against peers, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.

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