AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. AB

Competitive advantage analysis · financial-services

Asset Management Specialized
Overall moat score
71/100
Moderate

About AllianceBernstein Holding L.P.

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm provides its services to investment companies, pension and profit-sharing plans, banks and thrift institutions, trusts, estates, government agencies, charitable organizations, individuals, corporations and other business entities. The firm manages separate client focused portfolios for its clients. The firm primarily invests in common and preferred stocks, warrants and convertible securities, … Full AB analysis →

Competitive advantage assessment

Key strengths

  • High Return on Equity Return on equity ranks highly vs peers (score 0.83).
  • Sticky AUM Base Revenue stickiness is high (stability score 0.74).

Key risks

  • Volatile Fee Revenue Fee margin volatility is elevated (score 0.24).

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

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Fee Revenue Quality

Moderate
58

Where AB ranks in Asset Management

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. ranks #9 of 173 scored companies in Asset Management by moat score — the top 5%. The widest moat in the group is Sound Point Meridian Capital Inc (SPMC) at 77/100.

Moat scores for companies ranked near AB in Asset Management
# Company Moat score Rating
5 Virtus Artificial Intelligence & Technology Opportunities Fund AIO 73/100 Moderate
6 StoneCastle Financial Corp BANX 72/100 Moderate
7 Northern Trust Corporation NTRS 72/100 Moderate
8 Highland Global Allocation Fund HGLB 72/100 Moderate
9 AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. AB 71/100 Moderate
10 BlackRock Science and Technolog BSTZ 69/100 Moderate
11 BlackRock ESG Capital Allocation Term Trust ECAT 68/100 Moderate
12 FS Credit Opportunities Corp. FSCO 67/100 Moderate
13 Cohen & Steers Real Estate Oppo RLTY 67/100 Moderate

See every Asset Management & Capital Markets company ranked by moat score →

How AB scores on the Asset Management Specialized defenses

Fee Revenue Quality

Score 58 · 20% of the moat score

Fee revenue quality is the ability to charge above the industry's falling average and keep charging it.

Client Retention & Revenue Stickiness

Score 75 · 18% of the moat score

Assets under management leave far more easily than they arrive, and the fee leaves with them.

Compensation Discipline

Score 69 · 18% of the moat score

Compensation is the largest expense in asset management and the one that decides whether a good year ever reaches shareholders.

Capital Efficiency

Score 80 · 20% of the moat score

Asset managers are asset-light: with little capital employed, a healthy business should earn a very high return on equity, and a merely average one is a real warning.

Earnings Quality & Cash Conversion

Score 75 · 14% of the moat score

Reported profits here can be flattered by performance fees, seed-capital gains and consolidated fund accounting, none of which recur reliably.

Balance Sheet Strength

Score 69 · 10% of the moat score

Because the business needs so little capital, an asset manager carrying meaningful debt has usually borrowed to buy another manager or to fund distributions.

How each Asset Management Specialized defense is measured, in full →

Understanding AB's moat

What is AllianceBernstein Holding L.P.'s moat score?

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (AB) scores 71 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #9 of 173 scored companies in Asset Management, the top 5%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 174 companies in Asset Management. Its strongest defense is Capital Efficiency (80/100) and its weakest is Fee Revenue Quality (58/100).

How does AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. compare with other Asset Management companies?

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. ranks #9 of 173 scored companies in Asset Management by moat score. The widest moat in Asset Management is Sound Point Meridian Capital Inc (SPMC) at 77/100. The companies ranked closest are Highland Global Allocation Fund (HGLB) at 72 just above it and BlackRock Science and Technolog (BSTZ) at 69 just below it.

How is the moat score calculated?

Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Asset Management Specialized 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 174 companies in Asset Management. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. scored with the Asset Management Specialized template?

An asset manager owns almost nothing. It charges a fee on someone else's money, pays much of that fee out in compensation, and keeps the remainder — so its economics turn on the fee rate it can defend, whether client money stays, and how much revenue survives the bonus pool. The Asset Management template scores those questions rather than the balance sheet, which in this industry is largely beside the point.

Which competitive defenses are measured for AllianceBernstein Holding L.P.?

The Asset Management Specialized template measures 6 defenses, and AB scores: Fee Revenue Quality (58), Client Retention & Revenue Stickiness (75), Compensation Discipline (69), Capital Efficiency (80), Earnings Quality & Cash Conversion (75), Balance Sheet Strength (69). Each is scored independently as a percentile against peers, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.

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