MSA Safety Incorporated develops, manufactures, and supplies safety products and technology solutions that protect workers and facility infrastructures worldwide. The company offers breathing apparatus products, including self-contained breathing apparatus; firefighter helmets and protective apparel; and fixed gas and flame detection systems, such as fixed gas detection monitoring systems, flame detectors and open-path infrared gas detectors, and refrigerant detection and identification …
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Competitive advantage assessment
Key strengths
ROIC Sustainably Above PeersROIC at 88.0th percentile exceeds peers and WACC, demonstrating superior capital allocation.
Strong Interest Coverage & Conservative LeverageDebt serviceability is strong (score 0.75), with robust interest coverage.
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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MSA Safety Incorporated ranks #3 of 27
scored companies in Security & Protection Services by moat score — the top 11%.
The widest moat in the group is NAPCO Security Technologies, In (NSSC)
at 84/100.
Moat scores for companies ranked near MSA in Security & Protection Services
Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.
Cost Advantage
Score 80
· 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 80
· 15% of the moat score
Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.
Capital Efficiency
Score 81
· 18% of the moat score
Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.
Resilience
Score 71
· 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 71
· 15% of the moat score
Scale matters only when it converts into economics.
MSA Safety Incorporated (MSA) scores 76 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as strong. It ranks #3 of 27 scored companies in Security & Protection Services, the top 11%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 26 companies in Security & Protection Services. Its strongest defense is Capital Efficiency (81/100) and its weakest is Scale & Market Position (71/100).
How does MSA Safety Incorporated compare with other Security & Protection Services companies?
MSA Safety Incorporated ranks #3 of 27 scored companies in Security & Protection Services by moat score. The widest moat in Security & Protection Services is NAPCO Security Technologies, In (NSSC) at 84/100. The companies ranked closest are Allegion plc (ALLE) at 78 just above it and Brady Corporation (BRC) at 74 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 26 companies in Security & Protection Services. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.
Why is MSA Safety 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 MSA Safety Incorporated?
The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and MSA scores: Pricing Power (72), Cost Advantage (80), Customer Stickiness (80), Capital Efficiency (81), Resilience (71), Scale & Market Position (71). 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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