Darling Ingredients Inc. DAR

Competitive advantage analysis · consumer-defensive

Corporate Default
Overall moat score
54/100
Moderate

Ranked against 72 peers in Packaged Foods

About Darling Ingredients Inc.

Darling Ingredients Inc. develops, produces, and sells natural ingredients from edible and inedible bio-nutrients in North America, Europe, China, South America, and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Feed Ingredients, Food Ingredients, and Fuel Ingredients. It offers ingredients and customized specialty solutions for customers in the pharmaceutical, food, pet food, feed, industrial, fuel, bioenergy, and fertilizer industries. The company … Full DAR analysis →

Key strengths

  • Cash Generation Consistent Cash generation is consistent (score 0.96), indicating reliable business model.
  • Consistent Cash Generation Cash generation is strong and consistent (score 0.96).

Key risks

  • Elevated Debt Risk Debt serviceability is weak (score 0.39), raising refinancing risk.
  • Revenue Volatility Signals Weak Stickiness Revenue volatility is high (stability score 0.36), 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
48
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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 DAR ranks in Packaged Foods

Darling Ingredients Inc. ranks #29 of 73 scored companies in Packaged Foods by moat score — the top 40%. The widest moat in the group is McCormick & Company, Incorporat (MKC-V) at 79/100.

# Company Moat score Rating
25 Flowers Foods, Inc. FLO 58/100 Moderate
26 Above Food Ingredients Inc. ABVE 58/100 Moderate
27 USANA Health Sciences, Inc. USNA 57/100 Moderate
28 Wing Yip Food Holdings Group Li WYHG 55/100 Moderate
29 Darling Ingredients Inc. DAR 54/100 Moderate
30 The J.M. Smucker Company SJM 54/100 Moderate
31 General Mills, Inc. GIS 54/100 Moderate
32 Treehouse Foods, Inc. THS 52/100 Moderate
33 B&G Foods, Inc. BGS 52/100 Moderate

See every General Corporate company ranked by moat score →

How DAR scores on the Corporate Default defenses

Pricing Power

Score 48 · 20% of the moat score

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

Cost Advantage

Score 76 · 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 72 · 15% of the moat score

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

Capital Efficiency

Score 39 · 18% of the moat score

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

Resilience

Score 54 · 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 42 · 15% of the moat score

Scale matters only when it converts into economics.

How each Corporate Default defense is measured, in full →

Understanding DAR's moat

What is Darling Ingredients Inc.'s moat score?

Darling Ingredients Inc. (DAR) scores 54 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #29 of 73 scored companies in Packaged Foods, the top 40%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 72 companies in Packaged Foods. Its strongest defense is Cost Advantage (76/100) and its weakest is Capital Efficiency (39/100).

How does Darling Ingredients Inc. compare with other Packaged Foods companies?

Darling Ingredients Inc. ranks #29 of 73 scored companies in Packaged Foods by moat score. The widest moat in Packaged Foods is McCormick & Company, Incorporat (MKC-V) at 79/100. The companies ranked closest are Wing Yip Food Holdings Group Li (WYHG) at 55 just above it and The J.M. Smucker Company (SJM) at 54 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 72 companies in Packaged Foods. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is Darling 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 Darling Ingredients Inc.?

The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and DAR scores: Pricing Power (48), Cost Advantage (76), Customer Stickiness (72), Capital Efficiency (39), Resilience (54), Scale & Market Position (42). 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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