McKesson Corporation provides healthcare services in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: U.S. Pharmaceutical, Prescription Technology Solutions (RxTS), Medical-Surgical Solutions, and International. The U.S. Pharmaceutical segment distributes branded, generic, specialty, biosimilar and over-the-counter pharmaceutical drugs, and other healthcare-related products. This segment also provides practice management, technology, clinical support, and business solutions to community-based oncology and other …
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Competitive advantage assessment
Key strengths
Margins Stable Across CyclesOperating margin volatility is low (stability score 0.90), demonstrating pricing resilience across cycles.
ROIC Sustainably Above PeersROIC at 100.0th percentile exceeds peers and WACC, demonstrating superior capital allocation.
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 90
· 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 77
· 15% of the moat score
Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.
Capital Efficiency
Score 78
· 18% of the moat score
Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.
Resilience
Score 62
· 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 72
· 15% of the moat score
Scale matters only when it converts into economics.
McKesson Corporation (MCK) scores 75 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #1 of 12 scored companies in Medical Distribution, the top 8%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 11 companies in Medical Distribution. Its strongest defense is Cost Advantage (90/100) and its weakest is Resilience (62/100).
How does McKesson Corporation compare with other Medical Distribution companies?
McKesson Corporation ranks #1 of 12 scored companies in Medical Distribution by moat score. That is the widest moat in Medical Distribution. The companies ranked closest are Henry Schein, Inc. (HSIC) at 72 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 Medical Distribution. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.
Why is McKesson Corporation 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 McKesson Corporation?
The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and MCK scores: Pricing Power (72), Cost Advantage (90), Customer Stickiness (77), Capital Efficiency (78), Resilience (62), Scale & Market Position (72). 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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