Gladstone Capital Corporation is a business development company specializing in lower middle market, growth capital, add on acquisitions, change of control, buy & build strategies, debt refinancing, debt investments in senior term loans, revolving loans, secured first and second lien term loans, senior subordinated loans, unitranche loans, junior subordinated loans, and mezzanine loans and equity investments in the form of …
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Competitive advantage assessment
Key strengths
Lean Compensation StructureCompensation discipline is strong (cost efficiency score 0.93).
Premium Fee MarginsFee margin quality is strong (score 0.93).
Key risks
AUM Retention RiskRevenue stickiness is low (stability score 0.16).
Weak Cash ConversionCash conversion is weak (score 0.28).
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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Gladstone Capital Corporation ranks #76 of 173
scored companies in Asset Management by moat score — the top 44%.
The widest moat in the group is Sound Point Meridian Capital Inc (SPMC)
at 77/100.
Moat scores for companies ranked near GLAD in Asset Management
How GLAD scores on the Asset Management Specialized defenses
Fee Revenue Quality
Score 70
· 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 22
· 18% of the moat score
Assets under management leave far more easily than they arrive, and the fee leaves with them.
Compensation Discipline
Score 85
· 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 60
· 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 34
· 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 23
· 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.
What is Gladstone Capital Corporation's moat score?
Gladstone Capital Corporation (GLAD) scores 52 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #76 of 173 scored companies in Asset Management, the top 44%. 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 Compensation Discipline (85/100) and its weakest is Client Retention & Revenue Stickiness (22/100).
How does Gladstone Capital Corporation compare with other Asset Management companies?
Gladstone Capital Corporation ranks #76 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 Stellus Capital Investment Corp (SCM) at 53 just above it and Fidus Investment Corporation (FDUS) at 52 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 Gladstone Capital Corporation 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 Gladstone Capital Corporation?
The Asset Management Specialized template measures 6 defenses, and GLAD scores: Fee Revenue Quality (70), Client Retention & Revenue Stickiness (22), Compensation Discipline (85), Capital Efficiency (60), Earnings Quality & Cash Conversion (34), Balance Sheet Strength (23). 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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