18 Best 52-Week Low Stocks to Buy Now According to Short Sellers

4. Rio Tinto Group (NYSE:RIO)

52 Week Range: $59.80 – $75.09

Current Share Price: $64

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 29

Short interest rate: 0.44%

Rio Tinto Group (NYSE:RIO) is a basic materials juggernaut that is currently trading close to its 52-week lows. The company explores mines and processes mineral resources in Australia. It mostly mines Copper, Iron ore, gold, silver, and Molybdenum.

Amid the underperformance in the stock market, Rio Tinto Group (NYSE:RIO) has been firing on all angles as it has been consistently profitable and growing. Disciplined investments have driven the growth to strengthen operations and progress in major projects for profitable organic growth.

The company’s copper production is growing by 2% in 2024, with plans to deliver around 3%   of compound annual growth by 2024 to 2028. For the first six months of the year, Rio Tinto delivered an underlying EBITDA of $12.1 billion with a recorded free cash flow of $2.8 billion

A strong balance allows the company to maintain a 50% interim payout with $2.9 billion in ordinary dividends. Even as the company trades near its 52-week low, it has already committed $2.9 billion to be returned to shareholders through dividends. Rio Tinto Group (NYSE:RIO)  boasts a 6.90% dividend yield, ideal for passive income investors.

On the other hand, the stock appears undervalued while trading at a price-to-earnings multiple of 8, which is a 68% discount from the basic materials industry average P/E of 25.90.

At the end of June, 29 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey reported having stakes in Rio Tinto Group (NYSE:RIO), down from 37 in the previous quarter.