Aqua Metals, Inc. engages in reinventing metals recycling activities with its patented AquaRefining technology. The company's technology produces metals and alloys that can be returned into the battery manufacturing supply chain markets, as well as sells metals for use in various advanced manufacturing industries. Its AquaRefining, a low-emissions and recycling technology that replaces polluting furnaces and hazardous chemicals with electricity-powered …
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Competitive advantage assessment
Key strengths
Strong Liquidity BufferLiquidity position is strong (score 1.00), providing operational cushion.
Key risks
Commodity Pressure / Weak DifferentiationGross margin at 0th percentile with high volatility suggests weak pricing power or commoditized products.
ROIC Below WACC or PeersROIC at 6.2th percentile suggests inefficient capital deployment.
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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Aqua Metals, Inc. ranks #17 of 19
scored companies in Waste Management by moat score — the top 89%.
The widest moat in the group is Republic Services, Inc. (RSG)
at 88/100.
Moat scores for companies ranked near AQMS in Waste Management
Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.
Cost Advantage
Score 0
· 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 4
· 15% of the moat score
Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.
Capital Efficiency
Score 16
· 18% of the moat score
Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.
Resilience
Score 37
· 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 0
· 15% of the moat score
Scale matters only when it converts into economics.
Aqua Metals, Inc. (AQMS) scores 8 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as weak. It ranks #17 of 19 scored companies in Waste Management, the top 89%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 18 companies in Waste Management. Its strongest defense is Resilience (37/100) and its weakest is Pricing Power (0/100).
How does Aqua Metals, Inc. compare with other Waste Management companies?
Aqua Metals, Inc. ranks #17 of 19 scored companies in Waste Management by moat score. The widest moat in Waste Management is Republic Services, Inc. (RSG) at 88/100. The companies ranked closest are Greenwave Technology Solutions, (GWAV) at 17 just above it and Ambipar Emergency Response (AMBI) at 0 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 18 companies in Waste Management. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.
Why is Aqua Metals, 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 Aqua Metals, Inc.?
The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and AQMS scores: Pricing Power (0), Cost Advantage (0), Customer Stickiness (4), Capital Efficiency (16), Resilience (37), Scale & Market Position (0). 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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