Acme United Corporation supplies cutting, measuring, first aid, and sharpening products to the school, home, office, hardware, sporting goods, and industrial markets in the United States, Canada, Europe, and internationally. The company offers scissors, shears, knives, rulers, pencil sharpeners, paper trimmers, safety cutters, lettering products, glue guns, and other craft products under the Westcott brand name; and cutting tools under …
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Competitive advantage assessment
Key strengths
Strong Interest Coverage & Conservative LeverageDebt serviceability is strong (score 0.78), with robust interest coverage.
Margins Stable Across CyclesOperating margin volatility is low (stability score 0.87), demonstrating pricing resilience across cycles.
Acme ranks #10 of 32
scored companies in Household & Personal Products by moat score — the top 31%.
The widest moat in the group is Procter & Gamble Company (The) (PG)
at 81/100.
Moat scores for companies ranked near ACU in Household & Personal Products
Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.
Cost Advantage
Score 66
· 15% of the moat score
A cost advantage means delivering the same product for structurally less — better purchasing, denser distribution, a more automated process.
Customer Stickiness
Score 60
· 15% of the moat score
Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.
Capital Efficiency
Score 65
· 18% of the moat score
Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.
Resilience
Score 76
· 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.
Scale & Market Position
Score 57
· 15% of the moat score
Scale matters only when it converts into economics.
Acme (ACU) scores 64 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #10 of 32 scored companies in Household & Personal Products, the top 31%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 31 companies in Household & Personal Products. Its strongest defense is Resilience (76/100) and its weakest is Scale & Market Position (57/100).
How does Acme compare with other Household & Personal Products companies?
Acme ranks #10 of 32 scored companies in Household & Personal Products by moat score. The widest moat in Household & Personal Products is Procter & Gamble Company (The) (PG) at 81/100. The companies ranked closest are Kenvue Inc. (KVUE) at 67 just above it and Clorox Company (The) (CLX) at 61 just below it.
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 31 companies in Household & Personal Products. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.
Why is Acme 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 Acme?
The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and ACU scores: Pricing Power (63), Cost Advantage (66), Customer Stickiness (60), Capital Efficiency (65), Resilience (76), Scale & Market Position (57). 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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