Cato Corporation (The) CATO

Competitive advantage analysis · consumer-cyclical

Corporate Default
Overall moat score
34/100
Developing

Ranked against 33 peers in Apparel Retail

About Cato Corporation (The)

The Cato Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty retailer of fashion apparel and accessories primarily in the southeastern United States. It operates through two segments, Retail and Credit. The company's stores and e-commerce websites offer a range of apparel and accessories, including dressy, career, and casual sportswear; and dresses, coats, shoes, lingerie, costume jewelry, and handbags, as … Full CATO analysis →

Key risks

  • ROIC Below WACC or Peers ROIC at 20.7th percentile suggests inefficient capital deployment.
  • Scale Without Profitability Despite scale, profitability lags peers (score 0.24), suggesting limited competitive advantage.

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
28
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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 CATO ranks in Apparel Retail

Cato Corporation (The) ranks #26 of 34 scored companies in Apparel Retail by moat score — the top 76%. The widest moat in the group is lululemon athletica inc. (LULU) at 83/100.

# Company Moat score Rating
22 Stitch Fix, Inc. SFIX 40/100 Developing
23 Caleres, Inc. CAL 38/100 Developing
24 Citi Trends, Inc. CTRN 36/100 Developing
25 Zumiez Inc. ZUMZ 35/100 Developing
26 Cato Corporation (The) CATO 34/100 Developing
27 Digital Brands Group, Inc. Warrant DBGIW 32/100 Developing
28 Rent the Runway, Inc. RENT 28/100 Developing
29 a.k.a. Brands Holding Corp. AKA 26/100 Developing
30 Destination XL Group, Inc. DXLG 25/100 Weak

See every General Corporate company ranked by moat score →

How CATO scores on the Corporate Default defenses

Pricing Power

Score 28 · 20% of the moat score

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

Cost Advantage

Score 43 · 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 36 · 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 41 · 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 28 · 15% of the moat score

Scale matters only when it converts into economics.

How each Corporate Default defense is measured, in full →

Understanding CATO's moat

What is Cato Corporation (The)'s moat score?

Cato Corporation (The) (CATO) scores 34 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as developing. It ranks #26 of 34 scored companies in Apparel Retail, the top 76%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 33 companies in Apparel Retail. Its strongest defense is Cost Advantage (43/100) and its weakest is Pricing Power (28/100).

How does Cato Corporation (The) compare with other Apparel Retail companies?

Cato Corporation (The) ranks #26 of 34 scored companies in Apparel Retail by moat score. The widest moat in Apparel Retail is lululemon athletica inc. (LULU) at 83/100. The companies ranked closest are Zumiez Inc. (ZUMZ) at 35 just above it and Digital Brands Group, Inc. Warrant (DBGIW) at 32 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 33 companies in Apparel Retail. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is Cato Corporation (The) 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 Cato Corporation (The)?

The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and CATO scores: Pricing Power (28), Cost Advantage (43), Customer Stickiness (36), Capital Efficiency (32), Resilience (41), Scale & Market Position (28). 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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