NPFD

Competitive advantage analysis · financial-services

Asset Management Specialized
Overall moat score
53/100
Moderate

Ranked against 174 peers in Asset Management

About

Nuveen Variable Rate Preferred & Income Fund operates as a closed-end management investment company. The company is based in Chicago, Illinois. Full NPFD analysis →

Key strengths

  • Strong Cash Conversion Cash conversion quality is high (score 0.78).
  • Reliable Cash Generation Cash reliability is strong (score 0.78).

Key risks

  • AUM Retention Risk Revenue stickiness is low (stability score 0.40).
  • Margin Erosion Trend Margin trend is deteriorating (score 0.13).

The dashed ring is the peer median. Defense scores are percentile ranks against peers, so 50 is roughly the typical company in this group.

Upgrade to unlock the signals and evidence behind each defense.

Premium access

Unlock full defense analysis

Get key signals, strengths, and risks for every moat dimension.

Upgrade to Premium Unlock all moat defenses and evidence.

Fee Revenue Quality

Developing
50
Premium

Signals, strengths and risks for Fee Revenue Quality

Premium

Signals, strengths and risks for Client Retention & Revenue Stickiness

Premium

Signals, strengths and risks for Compensation Discipline

Premium

Signals, strengths and risks for Capital Efficiency

Premium

Signals, strengths and risks for Earnings Quality & Cash Conversion

Premium

Signals, strengths and risks for Balance Sheet Strength

Where NPFD ranks in Asset Management

ranks #73 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
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
77 Fidus Investment Corporation FDUS 52/100 Moderate

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

How NPFD scores on the Asset Management Specialized defenses

Fee Revenue Quality

Score 50 · 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 59 · 18% of the moat score

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

Compensation Discipline

Score 37 · 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 53 · 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 65 · 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 62 · 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 NPFD's moat

What is NPFD's moat score?

NPFD (NPFD) scores 53 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #73 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 (65/100) and its weakest is Compensation Discipline (37/100).

How does NPFD compare with other Asset Management companies?

NPFD ranks #73 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 Nuveen Municipal Credit Opportunities Fund (NMCO) at 53 just above it and Sprott Focus Trust, Inc. - Clos (FUND) 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 NPFD 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 NPFD?

The Asset Management Specialized template measures 6 defenses, and NPFD scores: Fee Revenue Quality (50), Client Retention & Revenue Stickiness (59), Compensation Discipline (37), Capital Efficiency (53), Earnings Quality & Cash Conversion (65), Balance Sheet Strength (62). 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.

Send Feedback
Please select a category.
0/1000