Houlihan Lokey, Inc., an investment banking company, provides merger and acquisition (M&A), capital market, financial restructurings and liability management, and financial and valuation advisory services worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Corporate Finance (CF), Financial Restructuring (FR), and Financial and Valuation Advisory (FVA). The CF segment offers general financial advisory services; and advises public and private institutions, including financial …
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Competitive advantage assessment
Key strengths
High Return on EquityReturn on equity ranks highly vs peers (score 0.72).
Sticky AUM BaseRevenue stickiness is high (stability score 0.65).
Key risks
Margin Erosion TrendMargin trend is deteriorating (score 0.38).
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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Houlihan Lokey, Inc. ranks #14 of 67
scored companies in Capital Markets by moat score — the top 21%.
The widest moat in the group is Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (IBKR)
at 83/100.
Moat scores for companies ranked near HLI in Capital Markets
How HLI scores on the Asset Management Specialized defenses
Fee Revenue Quality
Score 73
· 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 72
· 18% of the moat score
Assets under management leave far more easily than they arrive, and the fee leaves with them.
Compensation Discipline
Score 54
· 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 72
· 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 76
· 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 56
· 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.
Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (HLI) scores 68 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #14 of 67 scored companies in Capital Markets, the top 21%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 74 companies in Capital Markets. Its strongest defense is Earnings Quality & Cash Conversion (76/100) and its weakest is Compensation Discipline (54/100).
How does Houlihan Lokey, Inc. compare with other Capital Markets companies?
Houlihan Lokey, Inc. ranks #14 of 67 scored companies in Capital Markets by moat score. The widest moat in Capital Markets is Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (IBKR) at 83/100. The companies ranked closest are Piper Sandler Companies (PIPR) at 68 just above it and Stifel Financial Corporation (SF) at 68 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 74 companies in Capital Markets. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.
Why is Houlihan Lokey, 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 Houlihan Lokey, Inc.?
The Asset Management Specialized template measures 6 defenses, and HLI scores: Fee Revenue Quality (73), Client Retention & Revenue Stickiness (72), Compensation Discipline (54), Capital Efficiency (72), Earnings Quality & Cash Conversion (76), Balance Sheet Strength (56). 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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