DAQO New Energy Corp. DQ

Competitive advantage analysis · technology

Corporate Default
Overall moat score
22/100
Weak

About DAQO New Energy Corp.

Daqo New Energy Corp., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells polysilicon to photovoltaic product manufacturers in the People's Republic of China. Its products are used in ingots, wafers, cells, and modules for solar power solutions. The company was formerly known as Mega Stand International Limited and changed its name to Daqo New Energy Corp. in August 2009. The company … Full DQ analysis →

Competitive advantage assessment

Key strengths

  • Strong Interest Coverage & Conservative Leverage Debt serviceability is strong (score 0.82), with robust interest coverage.
  • Strong Liquidity Buffer Liquidity position is strong (score 0.75), providing operational cushion.

Key risks

  • Commodity Pressure / Weak Differentiation Gross margin at 7.1th percentile with high volatility suggests weak pricing power or commoditized products.
  • ROIC Below WACC or Peers ROIC at 14.3th 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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Pricing Power

Weak
6

Where DQ ranks in Semiconductor Equipment & Materials

DAQO New Energy Corp. ranks #25 of 29 scored companies in Semiconductor Equipment & Materials by moat score — the top 86%. The widest moat in the group is ASML Holding N.V. - New York Re (ASML) at 83/100.

Moat scores for companies ranked near DQ in Semiconductor Equipment & Materials
# Company Moat score Rating
21 Ichor Holdings ICHR 34/100 Developing
22 Cohu, Inc. COHU 32/100 Developing
23 Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. UCTT 32/100 Developing
24 Aehr Test Systems AEHR 25/100 Weak
25 DAQO New Energy Corp. DQ 22/100 Weak
26 AXT Inc AXTI 22/100 Weak
27 Amtech Systems, Inc. ASYS 22/100 Weak
28 indie Semiconductor, Inc. INDI 20/100 Weak
29 Atomera Incorporated ATOM 9/100 Weak

See every General Corporate company ranked by moat score →

How DQ scores on the Corporate Default defenses

Pricing Power

Score 6 · 20% of the moat score

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

Cost Advantage

Score 39 · 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 7 · 15% of the moat score

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

Capital Efficiency

Score 11 · 18% of the moat score

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

Resilience

Score 64 · 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 8 · 15% of the moat score

Scale matters only when it converts into economics.

How each Corporate Default defense is measured, in full →

Understanding DQ's moat

What is DAQO New Energy Corp.'s moat score?

DAQO New Energy Corp. (DQ) scores 22 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as weak. It ranks #25 of 29 scored companies in Semiconductor Equipment & Materials, the top 86%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 28 companies in Semiconductor Equipment & Materials. Its strongest defense is Resilience (64/100) and its weakest is Pricing Power (6/100).

How does DAQO New Energy Corp. compare with other Semiconductor Equipment & Materials companies?

DAQO New Energy Corp. ranks #25 of 29 scored companies in Semiconductor Equipment & Materials by moat score. The widest moat in Semiconductor Equipment & Materials is ASML Holding N.V. - New York Re (ASML) at 83/100. The companies ranked closest are Aehr Test Systems (AEHR) at 25 just above it and AXT Inc (AXTI) at 22 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 28 companies in Semiconductor Equipment & Materials. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is DAQO New Energy Corp. 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 DAQO New Energy Corp.?

The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and DQ scores: Pricing Power (6), Cost Advantage (39), Customer Stickiness (7), Capital Efficiency (11), Resilience (64), Scale & Market Position (8). 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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