Allete, Inc. ALE

Competitive advantage analysis · utilities

Regulated Utilities
Overall moat score
56/100
Moderate

Ranked against 14 peers in Utilities - Diversified

Key strengths

  • Strong Operating Cash Generation Operating cash generation is strong (score 0.86), supporting dividend sustainability.
  • Predictable Regulated Cash Flows Margin stability is high (score 0.79), reflecting the contractual nature of regulated tariffs.

Key risks

  • Cost Discipline Lags Peers Operational cost discipline is weak (score 0.07), dragging on margins.
  • Margin Pressure from Rate Cases Regulated margin level is weak (score 0.39), which may signal regulatory headwinds.

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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Regulatory Franchise

Moderate
66
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Signals, strengths and risks for Regulatory Franchise

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Signals, strengths and risks for Rate-Base Return Quality

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Signals, strengths and risks for Dividend Sustainability

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Signals, strengths and risks for Capital Structure Discipline

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Signals, strengths and risks for Operational Efficiency

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Signals, strengths and risks for Essential Service Resilience

Where ALE ranks in Utilities - Diversified

Allete, Inc. ranks #5 of 13 scored companies in Utilities - Diversified by moat score — the top 38%. The widest moat in the group is Brookfield Infrastructure Partn (BIP) at 69/100.

# Company Moat score Rating
1 Brookfield Infrastructure Partn BIP 69/100 Moderate
2 UNITIL Corporation UTL 66/100 Moderate
3 Otter Tail Corporation OTTR 65/100 Moderate
4 Comp En De Mn Cemig CIG-C 58/100 Moderate
5 Allete, Inc. ALE 56/100 Moderate
6 Avista Corporation AVA 54/100 Moderate
7 Comp En De Mn Cemig CIG 54/100 Moderate
8 DBA Sempra SRE 52/100 Moderate
9 Companhia Paranaense de Energia ELP 49/100 Developing

See every Regulated Utilities company ranked by moat score →

How ALE scores on the Regulated Utilities defenses

Regulatory Franchise

Score 66 · 25% of the moat score

The franchise is the moat, granted rather than earned: an exclusive right to serve a territory in exchange for regulated prices and an obligation to supply.

Rate-Base Return Quality

Score 67 · 20% of the moat score

A utility earns an allowed return on the capital invested in its network, the rate base.

Dividend Sustainability

Score 56 · 18% of the moat score

Utilities are owned largely for income, and the dividend is only as safe as the operating cash flow behind it.

Capital Structure Discipline

Score 61 · 17% of the moat score

Regulated utilities carry more debt than almost any other sector, which suits how predictable their revenue is but makes credit quality a core competitive asset.

Operational Efficiency

Score 20 · 12% of the moat score

Efficiency is unusually consequential under regulation.

Essential Service Resilience

Score 36 · 8% of the moat score

Electricity, gas and water are bought in a recession at close to the volume bought in an expansion, which is why utility revenue barely tracks the economic cycle.

How each Regulated Utilities defense is measured, in full →

Understanding ALE's moat

What is Allete, Inc.'s moat score?

Allete, Inc. (ALE) scores 56 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #5 of 13 scored companies in Utilities - Diversified, the top 38%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 14 companies in Utilities - Diversified. Its strongest defense is Rate-Base Return Quality (67/100) and its weakest is Operational Efficiency (20/100).

How does Allete, Inc. compare with other Utilities - Diversified companies?

Allete, Inc. ranks #5 of 13 scored companies in Utilities - Diversified by moat score. The widest moat in Utilities - Diversified is Brookfield Infrastructure Partn (BIP) at 69/100. The companies ranked closest are Comp En De Mn Cemig (CIG-C) at 58 just above it and Avista Corporation (AVA) at 54 just below it.

How is the moat score calculated?

Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Regulated Utilities 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 14 companies in Utilities - Diversified. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is Allete, Inc. scored with the Regulated Utilities template?

A regulated utility is a legal monopoly whose prices are set by a regulator rather than by a market. It cannot raise prices at will and it cannot be undercut, so most of the usual questions about competitive advantage barely apply. What matters is the quality of the regulatory bargain: whether the company earns the return it is allowed, funds its capital programme cheaply, and sustains the dividend investors own it for.

Which competitive defenses are measured for Allete, Inc.?

The Regulated Utilities template measures 6 defenses, and ALE scores: Regulatory Franchise (66), Rate-Base Return Quality (67), Dividend Sustainability (56), Capital Structure Discipline (61), Operational Efficiency (20), Essential Service Resilience (36). 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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