Federated Hermes, Inc. FHI

Competitive advantage analysis · financial-services

Asset Management Specialized
Overall moat score
61/100
Moderate

About Federated Hermes, Inc.

Federated Hermes, Inc. is a publicly owned investment manager. Through its subsidiaries, the firm provides its services to individuals, including high net worth individuals, banking or thrift institutions, investment companies, pension and profit sharing plans, pooled investment vehicles, charitable organizations, state or municipal government entities, and registered investment advisors. Through its subsidiaries, it manages separate client-focused equity, fixed income, balanced … Full FHI analysis →

Competitive advantage assessment

Key strengths

  • High Return on Equity Return on equity ranks highly vs peers (score 0.96).
  • Sticky AUM Base Revenue stickiness is high (stability score 0.96).

Key risks

  • High Compensation Costs Compensation costs relative to peers are high (score 0.29).
  • Fee Margin Pressure Fee margin quality is below peers (score 0.29).

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

Moderate
53

Where FHI ranks in Asset Management

Federated Hermes, Inc. ranks #42 of 173 scored companies in Asset Management by moat score — the top 24%. The widest moat in the group is Sound Point Meridian Capital Inc (SPMC) at 77/100.

Moat scores for companies ranked near FHI in Asset Management
# Company Moat score Rating
38 Sprott Inc. SII 62/100 Moderate
39 Oaktree Specialty Lending Corpo OCSL 62/100 Moderate
40 Western Asset Diversified Income Fund WDI 61/100 Moderate
41 WhiteHorse Finance, Inc. WHF 61/100 Moderate
42 Federated Hermes, Inc. FHI 61/100 Moderate
43 New Mountain Finance Corporatio NMFC 61/100 Moderate
44 SRH Total Return Fund, Inc. STEW 61/100 Moderate
45 Gladstone Investment Corporatio GAIN 60/100 Moderate
46 Guggenheim Active Allocation Fund GUG 60/100 Moderate

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

How FHI scores on the Asset Management Specialized defenses

Fee Revenue Quality

Score 53 · 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 69 · 18% of the moat score

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

Compensation Discipline

Score 40 · 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 87 · 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 52 · 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 60 · 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 FHI's moat

What is Federated Hermes, Inc.'s moat score?

Federated Hermes, Inc. (FHI) scores 61 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #42 of 173 scored companies in Asset Management, the top 24%. 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 Capital Efficiency (87/100) and its weakest is Compensation Discipline (40/100).

How does Federated Hermes, Inc. compare with other Asset Management companies?

Federated Hermes, Inc. ranks #42 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 WhiteHorse Finance, Inc. (WHF) at 61 just above it and New Mountain Finance Corporatio (NMFC) at 61 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 Federated Hermes, Inc. 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 Federated Hermes, Inc.?

The Asset Management Specialized template measures 6 defenses, and FHI scores: Fee Revenue Quality (53), Client Retention & Revenue Stickiness (69), Compensation Discipline (40), Capital Efficiency (87), Earnings Quality & Cash Conversion (52), Balance Sheet Strength (60). 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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