Consumer giants such as Unilever (NYSE: UL) and Kraft Foods (NASDAQ: KRFT) have been reviewed on this site as being suitable for long term investors. A major part of the bullish position on Kraft Foods, Unilever, Mondelez International (NASDAQ: MDLZ), and others is the greater demand coming from emerging market nations such as China, India, and others.  Those same forces make Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO) an appealing stock for long term investors.

Rio Tinto is a global powerhouse in industrial metals and minerals such as bauxite and copper.

Like so many other companies, the better China does, the better it is for Rio Tinto.  So far, that has worked for the company.  Rio Tinto is up for the last week, month, quarter, six months, and year of market action.  For 2014, Rio Tinto has risen by nearly 7 percent.  Over the last year of trading the share price has jumped almost 23 percent (chart below).

The future looks bullish, too.

Earnings-per-share growth next year is projected to be just 0.99 percent.  But for the next five years, earnings-per-share growth is estimated to grow by 16.80 percent.  That is a very bullish trajectory in that earnings-per-share growth actually fell by 10.80 percent for the previous half decade.

Augmenting the gains from increased earnings is the generous dividend payment of Rio Tinto.

At present, the dividend yield for Rio Tinto is 3.71 percent.  That tops those for Kraft Foods and Mondelez International.  Rio Tinto could increase the amount of the dividend should earnings continue to rise which would reward long term shareholders.

Even with its strong performance, few are betting that Rio Tinto will fall in price.

The short float is just 1.56 percent.  A short float of 5 percent is considered to be troubling for a company.  What is also bullish for Rio Tinto is its operating margin of nearly 30 percent!