Here are three stocks with buy rank and strong momentum characteristics for investors to consider today, December 30th:Rio Tinto (RIO) : This international mining company, that has interests in mining for aluminum, borax, coal, copper, gold, iron ore, lead, silver, tin, uranium, zinc, titanium, dioxide feedstock, diamonds, talc and zircon, has a Zacks Rank #1(Strong Buy), and witnessed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current year earnings increasing 5.8% over the last 60 days.Rio Tinto's shares gained ...