The ASX Ltd (ASX:ASX) share price has increased 2.5% since the start of 2025. The Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) share price is 9.2% above its 52-week low.
ASX share price in focus
ASX Limited operates Australia’s primary national securities exchange. Besides being the place you go to for info on listed companies, ASX offers services behind the scenes including registry, settlement, clearing services, and exchanges for commodities and derivatives.
The company provides access to a variety of different tradeable products, including shares, futures, exchange traded funds (ETFs), managed funds, and real estate investment trusts (REITs).
ASX has a huge competitive advantage over other smaller exchanges due to its large size and established position as the go-to exchange for Australian investors. In fact, many Australian investors probably aren’t even aware that smaller exchanges exist!
RIO shares
Founded in 1873, Rio Tinto is a global leader in the exploration, development, production, and processing of minerals and metals. It is currently the world’s second-largest mining and metals company, following BHP.
Rio Tinto’s diverse portfolio is grouped into four key product categories: Aluminium, Copper & Diamonds, Energy & Minerals, and Iron Ore.
Its largest export is iron ore, a critical ingredient in steel production, meaning the company’s performance is closely linked to the price of iron ore and other essential commodities.
ASX & RIO share price valuation
As a growth company, one way to put a broad estimate on the ASX share price could be to compare its price-to-sales multiple over time. This can tell us how the company has historically been valued relative to its total revenue.
Currently, ASX Ltd shares have a price-sales ratio of 8.22x, compared to its 5-year average of 8.12x, meaning its shares are trading above their historical average. This could mean that the share price has increased, or that sales have declined, or both. In the case of ASX, revenue has been growing over the last 3 years. Of course, context is important – and this is just one valuation technique. Investment decisions can’t just be based on one metric, but this can be a rough starting point.
Since RIO is more of a ‘blue chip’ company, we could look at its dividend yield to determine its value. If we compare it to the historical dividend yield, we can get a sense of the stability of the company and its ability to pay out income. RIO is offering a trailing dividend yield of around 5.66%, which compares to its 5-year average of 6.80%. This is just one of many ways you could put a value on RIO shares. The Rask websites offer free online investing courses, created by analysts explaining valuation methods like Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) and Dividend Discount Models (DDM). They even include free valuation spreadsheets which can help you learn how to value a company like ASX or RIO.
