Howmet Aerospace Inc. provides advanced engineered solutions for the aerospace and transportation industries in the United States, Japan, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Italy, Canada, Poland, China, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Engine Products, Fastening Systems, Engineered Structures, and Forged Wheels. The Engine Products segment offers airfoils and seamless rolled rings primarily for aircraft engines and industrial …
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Competitive advantage assessment
Key strengths
ROIC Sustainably Above PeersROIC at 97.3th percentile exceeds peers and WACC, demonstrating superior capital allocation.
Cost Leadership PositionOperating margin at 97.2th percentile with strong OpEx control demonstrates cost leadership.
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 is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.
Cost Advantage
Score 96
· 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 84
· 15% of the moat score
Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.
Capital Efficiency
Score 83
· 18% of the moat score
Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.
Resilience
Score 69
· 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 79
· 15% of the moat score
Scale matters only when it converts into economics.
Howmet Aerospace Inc. (HWM) scores 80 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as strong. It ranks #1 of 80 scored companies in Aerospace & Defense, the top 1%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 79 companies in Aerospace & Defense. Its strongest defense is Cost Advantage (96/100) and its weakest is Resilience (69/100).
How does Howmet Aerospace Inc. compare with other Aerospace & Defense companies?
Howmet Aerospace Inc. ranks #1 of 80 scored companies in Aerospace & Defense by moat score. That is the widest moat in Aerospace & Defense. The companies ranked closest are Heico Corporation (HEI) at 78 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 79 companies in Aerospace & Defense. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.
Why is Howmet Aerospace Inc. 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 Howmet Aerospace Inc.?
The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and HWM scores: Pricing Power (74), Cost Advantage (96), Customer Stickiness (84), Capital Efficiency (83), Resilience (69), Scale & Market Position (79). 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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