Nuveen Municipal Credit Opportunities Fund NMCO

Competitive advantage analysis · financial-services

Asset Management Specialized
Overall moat score
53/100
Moderate

Ranked against 174 peers in Asset Management

Key strengths

  • Strong Cash Conversion Cash conversion quality is high (score 0.97).
  • Conservative Leverage Leverage is conservative vs peers (score 0.88).

Key risks

  • Below-Peer Return on Equity Return on equity lags peers (score 0.24).
  • AUM Retention Risk Revenue stickiness is low (stability score 0.23).

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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Fee Revenue Quality

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Signals, strengths and risks for Fee Revenue Quality

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Signals, strengths and risks for Client Retention & Revenue Stickiness

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Signals, strengths and risks for Compensation Discipline

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Signals, strengths and risks for Capital Efficiency

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Signals, strengths and risks for Earnings Quality & Cash Conversion

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Signals, strengths and risks for Balance Sheet Strength

Where NMCO ranks in Asset Management

Nuveen Municipal Credit Opportunities Fund ranks #72 of 173 scored companies in Asset Management by moat score — the top 42%. The widest moat in the group is Sound Point Meridian Capital Inc (SPMC) at 77/100.

# Company Moat score Rating
68 Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. AMG 54/100 Moderate
69 Noah Holdings Limited NOAH 54/100 Moderate
70 Bain Capital Specialty Finance, BCSF 54/100 Moderate
71 Crescent Capital BDC, Inc. CCAP 53/100 Moderate
72 Nuveen Municipal Credit Opportunities Fund NMCO 53/100 Moderate
73 NPFD NPFD 53/100 Moderate
74 Sprott Focus Trust, Inc. - Clos FUND 53/100 Moderate
75 Stellus Capital Investment Corp SCM 53/100 Moderate
76 Gladstone Capital Corporation GLAD 52/100 Moderate

See every Asset Management & Capital Markets company ranked by moat score →

How NMCO scores on the Asset Management Specialized defenses

Fee Revenue Quality

Not measurable · 20% of the moat score

Fee revenue quality is the ability to charge above the industry's falling average and keep charging it.

Client Retention & Revenue Stickiness

Score 60 · 18% of the moat score

Assets under management leave far more easily than they arrive, and the fee leaves with them.

Compensation Discipline

Not measurable · 18% of the moat score

Compensation is the largest expense in asset management and the one that decides whether a good year ever reaches shareholders.

Capital Efficiency

Score 28 · 20% of the moat score

Asset managers are asset-light: with little capital employed, a healthy business should earn a very high return on equity, and a merely average one is a real warning.

Earnings Quality & Cash Conversion

Score 73 · 14% of the moat score

Reported profits here can be flattered by performance fees, seed-capital gains and consolidated fund accounting, none of which recur reliably.

Balance Sheet Strength

Score 64 · 10% of the moat score

Because the business needs so little capital, an asset manager carrying meaningful debt has usually borrowed to buy another manager or to fund distributions.

How each Asset Management Specialized defense is measured, in full →

Understanding NMCO's moat

What is Nuveen Municipal Credit Opportunities Fund's moat score?

Nuveen Municipal Credit Opportunities Fund (NMCO) scores 53 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #72 of 173 scored companies in Asset Management, the top 42%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 174 companies in Asset Management. Its strongest defense is Earnings Quality & Cash Conversion (73/100) and its weakest is Capital Efficiency (28/100).

How does Nuveen Municipal Credit Opportunities Fund compare with other Asset Management companies?

Nuveen Municipal Credit Opportunities Fund ranks #72 of 173 scored companies in Asset Management by moat score. The widest moat in Asset Management is Sound Point Meridian Capital Inc (SPMC) at 77/100. The companies ranked closest are Crescent Capital BDC, Inc. (CCAP) at 53 just above it and NPFD (NPFD) at 53 just below it.

How is the moat score calculated?

Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Asset Management Specialized 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 174 companies in Asset Management. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is Nuveen Municipal Credit Opportunities Fund scored with the Asset Management Specialized template?

An asset manager owns almost nothing. It charges a fee on someone else's money, pays much of that fee out in compensation, and keeps the remainder — so its economics turn on the fee rate it can defend, whether client money stays, and how much revenue survives the bonus pool. The Asset Management template scores those questions rather than the balance sheet, which in this industry is largely beside the point.

Which competitive defenses are measured for Nuveen Municipal Credit Opportunities Fund?

The Asset Management Specialized template measures 6 defenses, and NMCO scores: Fee Revenue Quality (not measurable), Client Retention & Revenue Stickiness (60), Compensation Discipline (not measurable), Capital Efficiency (28), Earnings Quality & Cash Conversion (73), Balance Sheet Strength (64). 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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