Lee Enterprises, Incorporated, a digital-first subscription and marketing services company, provides local news and information, and advertising services in the United States. The company offers digital subscription platforms; daily and weekly newspapers; and niche products for national and international news are accessible across digital and print formats through websites and mobile applications. It also provides subscription services through digital and …
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Competitive advantage assessment
Key strengths
Margins Stable Across CyclesOperating margin volatility is low (stability score 0.84), demonstrating pricing resilience across cycles.
Scale Supporting ProfitabilityProfitability at scale is strong (score 0.72), demonstrating competitive advantages.
Where LEE ranks in Comm Services: Media, Entertainment & Gaming
Lee Enterprises, Incorporated ranks #63 of 110
scored companies in Comm Services: Media, Entertainment & Gaming by moat score — the top 57%.
The widest moat in the group is Netflix, Inc. (NFLX)
at 85/100.
Moat scores for companies ranked near LEE in Comm Services: Media, Entertainment & Gaming
Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.
Cost Advantage
Score 44
· 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 43
· 15% of the moat score
Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.
Capital Efficiency
Score 20
· 18% of the moat score
Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.
Resilience
Score 30
· 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 61
· 15% of the moat score
Scale matters only when it converts into economics.
What is Lee Enterprises, Incorporated's moat score?
Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (LEE) scores 42 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as developing. It ranks #63 of 110 scored companies in Comm Services: Media, Entertainment & Gaming, the top 57%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 109 companies in Comm Services: Media, Entertainment & Gaming. Its strongest defense is Scale & Market Position (61/100) and its weakest is Capital Efficiency (20/100).
How does Lee Enterprises, Incorporated compare with other Comm Services: Media, Entertainment & Gaming companies?
Lee Enterprises, Incorporated ranks #63 of 110 scored companies in Comm Services: Media, Entertainment & Gaming by moat score. The widest moat in Comm Services: Media, Entertainment & Gaming is Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) at 85/100. The companies ranked closest are Golden Matrix Group, Inc. (GMGI) at 42 just above it and AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc (AMC) at 42 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 109 companies in Comm Services: Media, Entertainment & Gaming. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.
Why is Lee Enterprises, Incorporated 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 Lee Enterprises, Incorporated?
The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and LEE scores: Pricing Power (55), Cost Advantage (44), Customer Stickiness (43), Capital Efficiency (20), Resilience (30), Scale & Market Position (61). 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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