Rio Tinto vs Glencore, side by side
Both pull raw materials out of the ground, but their shapes differ. Rio Tinto is a focused mining company, heavily reliant on iron ore (the key ingredient in steel), so its profits swing with Chinese construction demand. Glencore mines too - including coal and metals used in batteries - but also runs a huge trading arm that handles, ships and trades commodities worldwide, an extra, more opaque profit engine.
On our factor screen it looks strongest on growth and income, and weakest on value.
On our factor screen it looks strongest on growth and momentum, and weakest on quality.
The numbers, side by side
| Measure |  Rio Tinto |  Glencore |
|---|---|---|
| Price | £71.74 | £5.43 |
| Market cap: The company's total value on the stock market - share price times the number of shares. Big = 'large-cap', small = 'small-cap'. | £116.67B | £63.63B |
| P/E: Price-to-earnings: the share price divided by yearly profit per share. Lower can mean cheaper; higher often means investors expect fast growth. | 13.0 | 271.5 |
| Div yield: Dividend yield: the yearly dividend as a percentage of the share price - roughly the income you'd earn just from dividends. | 4.9% | 2.3% |
| Revenue growth | 15.5% | 14.3% |
| 1Y: How much the share price has moved over the past year. | +59% | +78% |
More measures
| Forward P/E: Price-to-earnings: the share price divided by yearly profit per share. Lower can mean cheaper; higher often means investors expect fast growth. | 11.6 | 12.2 |
|---|---|---|
| Net margin | 19.6% | 0.1% |
| ROE | 19.3% | 0.3% |
| Beta: How bumpy the share price is versus the whole market. Above 1 swings more than the market; below 1 is calmer. It's about the ride, not whether it goes up or down. | 0.65 | 0.51 |
The bolder figure is simply the larger of the two - higher is not automatically good (a higher P/E means more expectation in the price; a higher beta means bigger swings).
How they differ
Rio Tinto is roughly 1.8x the size of Glencore by market value. On our factor screen Rio Tinto currently screens higher on quality and income. Glencore trades on the higher P/E (271.5 vs 13.0), so more expectation is already built into its price; and Rio Tinto currently yields more (4.9% vs 2.3%). Over the past year the share prices moved +59% (Rio Tinto) vs +78% (Glencore).
Descriptive only - how the two compare on today's data, never a verdict on either.
Rio Tinto, in one line
Rio Tinto is a global mining giant that digs up the essential metals and minerals, like iron ore and copper, that keep the modern world running.
Read the full Rio Tinto explainer →Glencore, in one line
Glencore is a global giant that digs up, processes, and trades the raw materials—like copper, coal, and zinc—that keep the modern world running.
Read the full Glencore explainer →What to weigh
If dividend income matters to you, the yields differ (4.9% Rio Tinto vs 2.3% Glencore). These are facts to understand, not a verdict - read each full explainer before deciding anything.
Common questions
Why are mining profits so up and down?
The commodities they produce are priced by global supply and demand, which the companies cannot control. When metal prices are high, profits (and dividends) soar; when they fall, both can shrink fast - so these are cyclical shares.
Why does China matter so much to miners?
China consumes a huge share of the world's iron ore, copper and coal for construction and manufacturing, so its growth and building activity are among the biggest single drivers of these companies' revenues.