New Outlook for Rio Tinto PLC (RTP)

With the shares of many industrial metal and mining companies standing at a current state of displacement, Tinto’s top executives have expressed a bit of caution over the short-term environment. However, they remain optimistic that their precious metals and minerals will excel over the medium-to-long-term.

Dahlman Rose & Company analysts have estimated that RTP is discounting one of their top assets, iron ore prices, in the $100 / MT range compared to the current spot prices which analysts have set to be in the $135 / MT range,

The Australian government and mining companies have come to an agreement on the current mining tax, which will ultimately lower the proposed tax rate on coal and iron ore earnings. The Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRTT) rate will drop from 40% to 30%.

Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has swayed in the $62-$30 range. While Rio Tinto PLC (NYSE: RTP) is currently trading just below $45 a share, analysts at Dahlman Rose have set a target price at the $85 marker.