Apple Inc. AAPL

Competitive advantage analysis · technology

Corporate Default
Overall moat score
82/100
Strong

Ranked against 2353 peers in Consumer Electronics

Key strengths

  • Margins Stable Across Cycles Operating margin volatility is low (stability score 0.91), demonstrating pricing resilience across cycles.
  • ROIC Sustainably Above Peers ROIC at 97.1th percentile exceeds peers and WACC, demonstrating superior capital allocation.

Key risks

  • Liquidity Concerns Liquidity is concerning (score 0.19), raising questions about short-term obligations.

The dashed ring is the peer median. Defense scores are percentile ranks against peers, so 50 is roughly the typical company in this group.

Select any axis label to open that defense below.

Pricing Power

Strong
87

Ability to maintain or raise prices without losing volume

Key signals
Margin Level 84/100
Operating Margin
32.0% vs 3.6% median P97
Gross Profit Margin
46.9% vs 33.2% median P71
Margin Stability 91/100
Operating Margin
— vs 4.2% median
STRENGTHS
  • Margins Stable Across Cycles Operating margin volatility is low (stability score 0.91), demonstrating pricing resilience across cycles.

Ability to deliver products/services at lower cost than competitors

Key signals
OpEx Control 97/100
Operating Margin
32.0% vs 3.6% median P97
SG&A Efficiency 97/100
Operating Margin
32.0% vs 3.6% median P97
STRENGTHS
  • Cost Leadership Position Operating margin at 97.3th percentile with strong OpEx control demonstrates cost leadership.
  • Operating Expense Control OpEx growth is controlled (score 0.97), demonstrating operating leverage.

Customer loyalty, switching costs, recurring revenue

Key signals
Revenue Stability 62/100
Rev Growth YoY
— vs 16.9% median
Cash Reliability 93/100
FCF Margin
23.7% vs 2.8% median P95
Operating Cash Flow Margin
26.8% vs 6.6% median P91
STRENGTHS
  • Cash Generation Consistent Cash generation is consistent (score 0.93), indicating reliable business model.

Returns on invested capital; how well the company deploys capital

Key signals
ROIC vs WACC Spread 97/100
ROE
171.4% vs 5.3% median P96
ROIC
64.8% vs 4.9% median P97
Return Durability 68/100
ROE
— vs 12.8% median
STRENGTHS
  • ROIC Sustainably Above Peers ROIC at 97.1th percentile exceeds peers and WACC, demonstrating superior capital allocation.

Financial strength, debt serviceability, ability to weather downturns

Key signals
Debt Serviceability 80/100
Net Debt/EBITDA
0.64x vs 2.00x median P70
Interest Coverage Ratio
29.06 vs 1.79 median P90
Liquidity Buffer 19/100
Current Ratio
0.89x vs 1.61x median P19
Cash Generation 93/100
FCF Margin
23.7% vs 2.8% median P95
Operating Cash Flow Margin
26.8% vs 6.6% median P91
STRENGTHS
  • Strong Interest Coverage & Conservative Leverage Debt serviceability is strong (score 0.80), with robust interest coverage.
  • Consistent Cash Generation Cash generation is strong and consistent (score 0.93).
RISKS
  • Liquidity Concerns Liquidity is concerning (score 0.19), raising questions about short-term obligations.

Market share, brand strength, distribution network

Key signals
Profitability at Scale 84/100
Operating Margin
32.0% vs 3.6% median P97
Gross Profit Margin
46.9% vs 33.2% median P71
Operating Leverage 64/100
Operating Margin
— vs -0.2% median
STRENGTHS
  • Scale Supporting Profitability Profitability at scale is strong (score 0.84), demonstrating competitive advantages.
  • Operating Leverage in Effect Operating leverage is evident (score 0.64), with margins expanding over time.

What the Corporate Default template measures

Most public companies sell a product or a service at a margin, so the moat question is whether that margin survives contact with competitors. The Corporate template scores the six defenses that show up in a general operating company's financial signature: whether it can hold price, produce more cheaply than rivals, keep its customers, earn a return above its cost of capital, withstand a downturn, and turn size into economics.

Pricing Power

Score 87 · 20% of the moat score

Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume. In an ordinary operating company it shows up as gross and operating margins that sit above the industry and stay there year after year — a competitor who can be undercut loses margin first. A company whose margin holds through a period of cost inflation is charging for something its customers cannot easily buy elsewhere.

Cost Advantage

Score 97 · 15% of the moat score

A cost advantage means delivering the same product for structurally less — better purchasing, denser distribution, a more automated process. It is the mirror image of pricing power: the company earns a wider margin at the same price rather than a higher price at the same cost. It counts as a moat only when it comes from a structural asset, not from a round of cost-cutting a rival could repeat.

Customer Stickiness

Score 81 · 15% of the moat score

Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year. It comes from switching costs, contracts, habit, or integration into the customer's own operations. In the financials it appears as revenue and cash flow that vary far less than the end market does — a business customers leave easily has cash flows that move with the cycle.

Capital Efficiency

Score 88 · 18% of the moat score

Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business. A return on invested capital that stays comfortably above the cost of that capital is the clearest evidence a moat exists at all: in a genuinely competitive market, excess returns attract entrants and get competed away. Returns that persist for years suggest something is keeping those entrants out.

Resilience

Score 64 · 17% of the moat score

Resilience is the capacity to get through a bad year on its own terms — enough liquidity, enough interest cover, and enough cash generation to avoid a rescue financing or a forced sale. A moat that exists only in good conditions is not a moat. Resilience is what lets a company hold its advantages at the moment weaker competitors are surrendering theirs.

Scale & Market Position

Score 76 · 15% of the moat score

Scale matters only when it converts into economics. This defense looks for the financial signature of a leading position — margins that sit above smaller competitors and improve as the company grows — rather than for revenue size on its own. A large company earning peer-average margins has volume without market power.

Understanding AAPL's moat

What is Apple Inc.'s moat score?

Apple Inc. (AAPL) scores 82 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as strong. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 2353 companies in Consumer Electronics.

How is the moat score calculated?

Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Corporate Default in this case, chosen because the defenses that matter to a bank are not the ones that matter to a software company. Every defense combines several financial signals, and each signal is measured as a percentile against a peer group of 2353 companies in Consumer Electronics. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is Apple Inc. scored with the Corporate Default template?

Most public companies sell a product or a service at a margin, so the moat question is whether that margin survives contact with competitors. The Corporate template scores the six defenses that show up in a general operating company's financial signature: whether it can hold price, produce more cheaply than rivals, keep its customers, earn a return above its cost of capital, withstand a downturn, and turn size into economics.

Which competitive defenses are measured for Apple Inc.?

The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses: Pricing Power, Cost Advantage, Customer Stickiness, Capital Efficiency, Resilience, Scale & Market Position. Each is scored independently, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.

What does the moat score mean for investors?

A moat is a durable structural advantage that lets a company defend its returns from competitors. A high score indicates the financial signature of one — pricing power, cost advantage, customer stickiness — measured relative to peers. It is a quantitative screen built from reported financials, not a price target or a recommendation, and it describes the business rather than the attractiveness of the stock at its current price.

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