BlackRock ESG Capital Allocation Term Trust ECAT

Competitive advantage analysis · financial-services

Asset Management Specialized
Overall moat score
68/100
Moderate

Competitive advantage assessment

Key strengths

  • Premium Fee Margins Fee margin quality is strong (score 0.75).
  • Lean Compensation Structure Compensation discipline is strong (cost efficiency score 0.75).

Key risks

  • AUM Retention Risk Revenue stickiness is low (stability score 0.32).
  • Volatile Capital Returns Return volatility is elevated (score 0.31).

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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Fee Revenue Quality

Strong
85

Where ECAT ranks in Asset Management

BlackRock ESG Capital Allocation Term Trust ranks #11 of 173 scored companies in Asset Management by moat score — the top 6%. The widest moat in the group is Sound Point Meridian Capital Inc (SPMC) at 77/100.

Moat scores for companies ranked near ECAT in Asset Management
# Company Moat score Rating
7 Northern Trust Corporation NTRS 72/100 Moderate
8 Highland Global Allocation Fund HGLB 72/100 Moderate
9 AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. AB 71/100 Moderate
10 BlackRock Science and Technolog BSTZ 69/100 Moderate
11 BlackRock ESG Capital Allocation Term Trust ECAT 68/100 Moderate
12 FS Credit Opportunities Corp. FSCO 67/100 Moderate
13 Cohen & Steers Real Estate Oppo RLTY 67/100 Moderate
14 PGIM Short Duration High Yield Opportunities Fund SDHY 67/100 Moderate
15 First Trust High Yield Opportunities 2027 Term Fund FTHY 65/100 Moderate

See every Asset Management & Capital Markets company ranked by moat score →

How ECAT scores on the Asset Management Specialized defenses

Fee Revenue Quality

Score 85 · 20% of the moat score

Fee revenue quality is the ability to charge above the industry's falling average and keep charging it.

Client Retention & Revenue Stickiness

Score 57 · 18% of the moat score

Assets under management leave far more easily than they arrive, and the fee leaves with them.

Compensation Discipline

Score 64 · 18% of the moat score

Compensation is the largest expense in asset management and the one that decides whether a good year ever reaches shareholders.

Capital Efficiency

Score 57 · 20% of the moat score

Asset managers are asset-light: with little capital employed, a healthy business should earn a very high return on equity, and a merely average one is a real warning.

Earnings Quality & Cash Conversion

Score 62 · 14% of the moat score

Reported profits here can be flattered by performance fees, seed-capital gains and consolidated fund accounting, none of which recur reliably.

Balance Sheet Strength

Score 93 · 10% of the moat score

Because the business needs so little capital, an asset manager carrying meaningful debt has usually borrowed to buy another manager or to fund distributions.

How each Asset Management Specialized defense is measured, in full →

Understanding ECAT's moat

What is BlackRock ESG Capital Allocation Term Trust's moat score?

BlackRock ESG Capital Allocation Term Trust (ECAT) scores 68 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #11 of 173 scored companies in Asset Management, the top 6%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 174 companies in Asset Management. Its strongest defense is Balance Sheet Strength (93/100) and its weakest is Client Retention & Revenue Stickiness (57/100).

How does BlackRock ESG Capital Allocation Term Trust compare with other Asset Management companies?

BlackRock ESG Capital Allocation Term Trust ranks #11 of 173 scored companies in Asset Management by moat score. The widest moat in Asset Management is Sound Point Meridian Capital Inc (SPMC) at 77/100. The companies ranked closest are BlackRock Science and Technolog (BSTZ) at 69 just above it and FS Credit Opportunities Corp. (FSCO) at 67 just below it.

How is the moat score calculated?

Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Asset Management Specialized 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 174 companies in Asset Management. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is BlackRock ESG Capital Allocation Term Trust scored with the Asset Management Specialized template?

An asset manager owns almost nothing. It charges a fee on someone else's money, pays much of that fee out in compensation, and keeps the remainder — so its economics turn on the fee rate it can defend, whether client money stays, and how much revenue survives the bonus pool. The Asset Management template scores those questions rather than the balance sheet, which in this industry is largely beside the point.

Which competitive defenses are measured for BlackRock ESG Capital Allocation Term Trust?

The Asset Management Specialized template measures 6 defenses, and ECAT scores: Fee Revenue Quality (85), Client Retention & Revenue Stickiness (57), Compensation Discipline (64), Capital Efficiency (57), Earnings Quality & Cash Conversion (62), Balance Sheet Strength (93). 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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