Barclays: Rio Tinto's strategy will boost long-term returns, short-term forecasts may face pressure.

Barclays analysts said that under the leadership of new CEO Simon Trott, Rio Tinto's first investor briefing met market expectations. These analysts stated that Trott's plan to make Rio Tinto "leaner" and "sharper" could result in pre-interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization earnings for 2030 being approximately $5 billion higher than Barclays' forecast, and around $7 billion higher than the market average expectations. However, these analysts noted in a report to clients that the market expectations prior to the briefing were already "quite high" and that "compared to market average expectations, the 2026 production guidance was somewhat weak, which could lead to a downward adjustment in the market average expectations in the near term."