Cumulus Media Inc., an audio-first media company, owns and operates radio stations in the United States. The company owns and operates stations in various markets, as well as affiliated stations through Westwood One. Its content portfolio includes sports, news, talk, and entertainment programming from various brands, including the NFL, the NCAA, the Masters, CNN, Infinity Sports Network, AP News, the …
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Competitive advantage assessment
Key risks
ROIC Below WACC or PeersROIC at 17.6th percentile suggests inefficient capital deployment.
Below-Peer Operating EfficiencyOperating margin at 29.4th percentile indicates below-peer efficiency.
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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Cumulus Media Inc. ranks #14 of 18
scored companies in Broadcasting by moat score — the top 78%.
The widest moat in the group is TEGNA Inc (TGNA)
at 84/100.
Moat scores for companies ranked near CMLS in Broadcasting
Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.
Cost Advantage
Score 29
· 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 20
· 18% of the moat score
Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.
Resilience
Score 39
· 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 47
· 15% of the moat score
Scale matters only when it converts into economics.
Cumulus Media Inc. (CMLS) scores 35 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as developing. It ranks #14 of 18 scored companies in Broadcasting, the top 78%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 17 companies in Broadcasting. Its strongest defense is Scale & Market Position (47/100) and its weakest is Capital Efficiency (20/100).
How does Cumulus Media Inc. compare with other Broadcasting companies?
Cumulus Media Inc. ranks #14 of 18 scored companies in Broadcasting by moat score. The widest moat in Broadcasting is TEGNA Inc (TGNA) at 84/100. The companies ranked closest are Urban One, Inc. (UONEK) at 36 just above it and Urban One, Inc. (UONE) at 33 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 17 companies in Broadcasting. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.
Why is Cumulus Media 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 Cumulus Media Inc.?
The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and CMLS scores: Pricing Power (41), Cost Advantage (29), Customer Stickiness (36), Capital Efficiency (20), Resilience (39), Scale & Market Position (47). 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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