Kroger Company (The) KR

Competitive advantage analysis · consumer-defensive

Corporate Default
Overall moat score
64/100
Moderate

Ranked against 11 peers in Grocery Stores

About Kroger Company (The)

The Kroger Co. operates as a food and drug retailer in the United States. The company operates combination food and drug stores, multi-department stores, marketplace stores, and price impact warehouses. Its combination food and drug stores offer natural food and organic sections, pharmacies, general merchandise, pet centers, fresh seafood, and organic produce; and its multi-department stores provide apparel, home fashion … Full KR analysis →

Key strengths

  • ROIC Sustainably Above Peers ROIC at 72.7th percentile exceeds peers and WACC, demonstrating superior capital allocation.
  • Margins Stable Across Cycles Operating margin volatility is low (stability score 0.82), demonstrating pricing resilience across cycles.

Key risks

  • Scale Without Profitability Despite scale, profitability lags peers (score 0.36), suggesting limited competitive advantage.

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

Moderate
61
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Signals, strengths and risks for Pricing Power

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Signals, strengths and risks for Cost Advantage

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Signals, strengths and risks for Customer Stickiness

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Signals, strengths and risks for Capital Efficiency

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Signals, strengths and risks for Resilience

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Signals, strengths and risks for Scale & Market Position

Where KR ranks in Grocery Stores

Kroger Company (The) ranks #4 of 12 scored companies in Grocery Stores by moat score — the top 33%. The widest moat in the group is Village Super Market, Inc. (VLGEA) at 81/100.

# Company Moat score Rating
1 Village Super Market, Inc. VLGEA 81/100 Strong
2 Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cott NGVC 78/100 Strong
3 Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. SFM 72/100 Moderate
4 Kroger Company (The) KR 64/100 Moderate
5 Weis Markets, Inc. WMK 63/100 Moderate
6 Albertsons Companies, Inc. ACI 47/100 Developing
7 Ingles Markets, Incorporated IMKTA 41/100 Developing
8 Dingdong (Cayman) Limited DDL 38/100 Developing
9 Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. GO 28/100 Developing

See every General Corporate company ranked by moat score →

How KR scores on the Corporate Default defenses

Pricing Power

Score 61 · 20% of the moat score

Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.

Cost Advantage

Score 73 · 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 78 · 15% of the moat score

Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.

Capital Efficiency

Score 71 · 18% of the moat score

Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.

Resilience

Score 44 · 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 54 · 15% of the moat score

Scale matters only when it converts into economics.

How each Corporate Default defense is measured, in full →

Understanding KR's moat

What is Kroger Company (The)'s moat score?

Kroger Company (The) (KR) scores 64 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #4 of 12 scored companies in Grocery Stores, the top 33%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 11 companies in Grocery Stores. Its strongest defense is Customer Stickiness (78/100) and its weakest is Resilience (44/100).

How does Kroger Company (The) compare with other Grocery Stores companies?

Kroger Company (The) ranks #4 of 12 scored companies in Grocery Stores by moat score. The widest moat in Grocery Stores is Village Super Market, Inc. (VLGEA) at 81/100. The companies ranked closest are Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (SFM) at 72 just above it and Weis Markets, Inc. (WMK) at 63 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 11 companies in Grocery Stores. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is Kroger Company (The) 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 Kroger Company (The)?

The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and KR scores: Pricing Power (61), Cost Advantage (73), Customer Stickiness (78), Capital Efficiency (71), Resilience (44), Scale & Market Position (54). 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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