Alto Ingredients, Inc. ALTO

Competitive advantage analysis · basic-materials

Corporate Default
Overall moat score
42/100
Developing

Ranked against 56 peers in Specialty Chemicals

About Alto Ingredients, Inc.

Alto Ingredients, Inc. produces, distributes, and markets specialty alcohols, renewable fuel, and essential ingredients in the United States. The company operates in three segments: Marketing and Distribution, Pekin Campus Production, and Western Production. It offers specialty alcohols used in mouthwash, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, hand sanitizers, disinfectants, and cleaners for health, home, and beauty markets; grain neutral spirits used in alcoholic beverages … Full ALTO analysis →

Key strengths

  • Strong Liquidity Buffer Liquidity position is strong (score 0.64), providing operational cushion.

Key risks

  • Scale Without Profitability Despite scale, profitability lags peers (score 0.25), suggesting limited competitive advantage.
  • Revenue Volatility Signals Weak Stickiness Revenue volatility is high (stability score 0.37), suggesting weak customer stickiness.

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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Pricing Power

Developing
32
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Signals, strengths and risks for Pricing Power

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Signals, strengths and risks for Cost Advantage

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Signals, strengths and risks for Customer Stickiness

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Signals, strengths and risks for Capital Efficiency

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Signals, strengths and risks for Resilience

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Signals, strengths and risks for Scale & Market Position

Where ALTO ranks in Specialty Chemicals

Alto Ingredients, Inc. ranks #33 of 56 scored companies in Specialty Chemicals by moat score — the top 59%. The widest moat in the group is WD-40 Company (WDFC) at 81/100.

# Company Moat score Rating
29 Stepan Company SCL 46/100 Developing
30 Minerals Technologies Inc. MTX 46/100 Developing
31 Hudson Technologies, Inc. HDSN 45/100 Developing
32 Perimeter Solutions, SA PRM 43/100 Developing
33 Alto Ingredients, Inc. ALTO 42/100 Developing
34 Air Products and Chemicals, Inc APD 37/100 Developing
35 International Flavors & Fragran IFF 35/100 Developing
36 Orion S.A. OEC 35/100 Developing
37 Albemarle Corporation ALB 34/100 Developing

See every General Corporate company ranked by moat score →

How ALTO scores on the Corporate Default defenses

Pricing Power

Score 32 · 20% of the moat score

Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.

Cost Advantage

Score 71 · 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 34 · 15% of the moat score

Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.

Capital Efficiency

Score 32 · 18% of the moat score

Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.

Resilience

Score 57 · 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 33 · 15% of the moat score

Scale matters only when it converts into economics.

How each Corporate Default defense is measured, in full →

Understanding ALTO's moat

What is Alto Ingredients, Inc.'s moat score?

Alto Ingredients, Inc. (ALTO) scores 42 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as developing. It ranks #33 of 56 scored companies in Specialty Chemicals, the top 59%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 56 companies in Specialty Chemicals. Its strongest defense is Cost Advantage (71/100) and its weakest is Pricing Power (32/100).

How does Alto Ingredients, Inc. compare with other Specialty Chemicals companies?

Alto Ingredients, Inc. ranks #33 of 56 scored companies in Specialty Chemicals by moat score. The widest moat in Specialty Chemicals is WD-40 Company (WDFC) at 81/100. The companies ranked closest are Perimeter Solutions, SA (PRM) at 43 just above it and Air Products and Chemicals, Inc (APD) at 37 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 56 companies in Specialty Chemicals. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is Alto Ingredients, 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 Alto Ingredients, Inc.?

The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and ALTO scores: Pricing Power (32), Cost Advantage (71), Customer Stickiness (34), Capital Efficiency (32), Resilience (57), Scale & Market Position (33). 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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