The phrase
"moat rating" refers to an assessment of how well-protected a company's competitive advantage or market position is. It indicates how difficult it is for other companies to challenge or replicate that advantage, making it more valuable and sustainable. A higher
moat rating means the company is more likely to maintain its success in the long term.
Full definition
On the other hand, Morningstar awards Merck a
wide moat rating based on the company's patents, economies of scale, «powerful intellectual base,» and powerful salesforce.
To meet Morningstar's criteria for index membership, companies must have a Morningstar
Economic Moat rating of narrow or wide and have a Morningstar Distance to Default score in the top 50 % of eligible dividend - paying companies.
Cove Point and the ACP contribute to Dominion being the only utility to receive a «wide»
moat rating from Morningstar, which believes those operations will give the company «sustainable competitive advantages.»
But they assign the Wide rating to about 67 % of the stocks in our portfolio and give a
Narrow moat rating to another 28 % (these percentages exclude the few companies in our portfolio that they do not cover).
Morningstar awards VF a wide -
moat rating.
It states that
the moat rating is due to Lazard's reputation, geographic reach, and relative diversification of its asset - management business.
To me, that actually indicates business strength of the sort that supports Morningstar's Wide
Moat rating: Grainger is strong enough to create pricing pressure in the market in a bid to squeeze competitors and gain market share.
Morningstar, which rates companies based on an assessment of the quality of their moat, only assigns a Wide
Moat rating (their top rating) to 10 % of the companies they cover.
Morningstar awards Grainger a Wide
Moat rating.
Morningstar awards Southern a narrow
moat rating, based on the constructive nature of the regulatory environment where Southern operates.
You could use Morningstar's
Moat Ratings, or Gross Margins as a fraction of assets.
Morningstar awards it a narrow
moat rating.
Morningstar gives Starbucks a wide -
moat rating (its highest), based on its strong brand that evokes high quality, advantages of scale, café - like experience, innovations in mobile order and payment systems, popular rewards program, product breadth, and employee relations.
• Morningstar awards Coke a wide
moat rating, which is its highest designation, citing KO's world - class brand image, strong distribution network, and economies of scale.
That is why Morningstar does not award a Wide
moat rating to Apple.
Since Morningstar rates about 1700 stocks altogether, I consider the Narrow
moat rating to be just OK rather than Good, since over half of the stocks that Morningstar rates have positive moat ratings.
They have 3
moat ratings: None, Narrow, and Wide.
Just 266 stocks have a Wide
moat rating, and another 949 have Narrow moats.
Morningstar examines historical financial performance; competitive advantages compared to the competition; intangible assets such as patents and brands; cost advantages; attributes that give a company pricing power; and efficiencies of scale, among others, in determining
its moat ratings.
In order to earn a narrow or wide
moat rating, a company must have «the prospect of earning above average returns on capital, and some competitive edge that prevents these returns from quickly eroding.»
The dividend criteria is also more objective than Morningstar's
moat rating, which depends on the judgment of Morningstar's analysts.
• Morningstar awards JNJ a Wide
Moat rating, its highest grade.
Accordingly, we are reiterating our wide
moat rating and $ 84 fair value estimate for Cardinal.
Dominion also is the only utility that Morningstar has bestowed with a «Wide»
moat rating (orange), as explained here:
To me, that actually indicates business strength of the sort that supports Morningstar's Wide
Moat rating: Grainger is strong enough to create pricing pressure in the market in a bid to squeeze competitors and gain market share.
Pat Dorsey has had a long career at Morningstar where he was Director of Equity Research and where he was one of the main contributors to the firm's economic
moat ratings.
Pat developed Morningstar's economic
moat ratings, as well as the methodology behind Morningstar's framework for analyzing competitive advantage.
Morningstar awards Cardinal a Wide
Moat rating, based mostly on the sheer size, reach, and logistical efficiencies of their distribution system.
It states that
the moat rating is due to Lazard's reputation, geographic reach, and relative diversification of its asset - management business.
Morningstar awards Lazard a Narrow
Moat rating.
Morningstar awards Grainger a Wide
Moat rating.
Business model is worthy of a narrow
moat rating.
And Morningstar awards TROW a Wide
Moat rating, which is its best score.
Morningstar gives Smucker a narrow
moat rating (its 2nd - highest), based on:
Neither Morningstar or S&P Capital IQ rate the company, so there are blanks where normally we would see
a moat rating and a quality rating.
It includes the Morningstar stock analyst reports, stock grades, portfolio manager, and all of Morninstar's proprietary information like star ratings, economic
moat ratings, buy / sell prices, and more.
The economic
moat rating * is determined through a thorough analysis of a business's profitability and return profile, growth characteristics, and competitive positioning.
Moat ratings and debt ratings are critical components in our analysis of risk.
Moat ratings are designed to help us monitor business risk.
Pat was instrumental in the development of Morningstar's economic
moat ratings, as well as the methodology behind Morningstar's framework for analyzing competitive advantage.
Moat ratings are rarely applicable in small and micro-cap asset - based investments.
I am consistently monitoring factors which affect risk such as debt levels,
moat ratings and sell side sentiment, as well as measures of optimism / pessimism such as forward PE multiples.