Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, retails natural and organic groceries, and dietary supplements in the United States. The company's stores offer natural and organic grocery products, such as organic produce; private label repackaged bulk products, including dried fruits, nuts, grains, granolas, teas, herbs, and spices, as well as peanut and almond butters; private label products …
Full NGVC analysis →
Competitive advantage assessment
Key strengths
ROIC Sustainably Above PeersROIC at 90.9th percentile exceeds peers and WACC, demonstrating superior capital allocation.
Margins Stable Across CyclesOperating margin volatility is low (stability score 0.73), demonstrating pricing resilience across cycles.
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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Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cott ranks #2 of 12
scored companies in Grocery Stores by moat score — the top 17%.
The widest moat in the group is Village Super Market, Inc. (VLGEA)
at 81/100.
Moat scores for companies ranked near NGVC in Grocery Stores
Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.
Cost Advantage
Score 86
· 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 74
· 15% of the moat score
Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.
Capital Efficiency
Score 84
· 18% of the moat score
Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.
Resilience
Score 67
· 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 82
· 15% of the moat score
Scale matters only when it converts into economics.
What is Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cott's moat score?
Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cott (NGVC) scores 78 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as strong. It ranks #2 of 12 scored companies in Grocery Stores, the top 17%. 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 Cost Advantage (86/100) and its weakest is Resilience (67/100).
How does Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cott compare with other Grocery Stores companies?
Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cott ranks #2 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 Village Super Market, Inc. (VLGEA) at 81 just above it and Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (SFM) 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 Grocery Stores. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.
Why is Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cott 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 Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cott?
The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and NGVC scores: Pricing Power (75), Cost Advantage (86), Customer Stickiness (74), Capital Efficiency (84), Resilience (67), Scale & Market Position (82). 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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