New Mountain Finance Corporation (Nasdaq: NMFC), a business development company, is a private equity/buyouts and loan fund that specializes in directly investing and lending to middle market companies in defensive growth industries. The fund prefers investing in buyout and middle market companies. It also makes investments in debt securities at all levels of the capital structure, including first and second …
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Competitive advantage assessment
Key strengths
Strong Cash ConversionCash conversion quality is high (score 0.98).
Reliable Cash GenerationCash reliability is strong (score 0.98).
Key risks
Below-Peer Return on EquityReturn on equity lags peers (score 0.24).
Elevated LeverageLeverage is elevated vs peers (score 0.18).
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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New Mountain Finance Corporatio ranks #43 of 173
scored companies in Asset Management by moat score — the top 25%.
The widest moat in the group is Sound Point Meridian Capital Inc (SPMC)
at 77/100.
Moat scores for companies ranked near NMFC in Asset Management
How NMFC 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 81
· 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 41
· 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 91
· 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 24
· 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.
What is New Mountain Finance Corporatio's moat score?
New Mountain Finance Corporatio (NMFC) scores 61 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #43 of 173 scored companies in Asset Management, the top 25%. 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 (91/100) and its weakest is Balance Sheet Strength (24/100).
How does New Mountain Finance Corporatio compare with other Asset Management companies?
New Mountain Finance Corporatio ranks #43 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 Federated Hermes, Inc. (FHI) at 61 just above it and SRH Total Return Fund, Inc. (STEW) at 61 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 New Mountain Finance Corporatio 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 New Mountain Finance Corporatio?
The Asset Management Specialized template measures 6 defenses, and NMFC scores: Fee Revenue Quality (not measurable), Client Retention & Revenue Stickiness (81), Compensation Discipline (not measurable), Capital Efficiency (41), Earnings Quality & Cash Conversion (91), Balance Sheet Strength (24). 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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