PFLT

Competitive advantage analysis · financial-services

Asset Management Specialized
Overall moat score
36/100
Developing

About

PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. is a business development company. It seeks to make secondary direct, debt, equity, and loan investments. The fund seeks to invest through floating rate loans in private or thinly traded or small market-cap, public middle market companies. It primarily invests in the United States and to a limited extent non-U.S. companies. The fund typically invests … Full PFLT analysis →

Competitive advantage assessment

Key strengths

  • Durable Capital Returns Return durability is high (score 0.72).
  • Stable Earnings Earnings stability is solid (score 0.72).

Key risks

  • Weak Cash Conversion Cash conversion is weak (score 0.03).
  • Elevated Leverage Leverage is elevated vs peers (score 0.12).

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

Developing
41

Where PFLT ranks in Asset Management

ranks #135 of 173 scored companies in Asset Management by moat score — the top 78%. The widest moat in the group is Sound Point Meridian Capital Inc (SPMC) at 77/100.

Moat scores for companies ranked near PFLT in Asset Management
# Company Moat score Rating
131 Blackstone Secured Lending Fund BXSL 37/100 Developing
132 RiverNorth Managed Duration Mun RMM 36/100 Developing
133 Eagle Point Credit Company Inc. ECCC 36/100 Developing
134 53753 BMN 36/100 Developing
135 PFLT PFLT 36/100 Developing
136 Blue Owl Capital Inc. OWL 35/100 Developing
137 Brookfield Business Corporation BBUC 35/100 Developing
138 Chicago Atlantic BDC, Inc. LIEN 35/100 Developing
139 Ellington Credit Company EARN 34/100 Developing

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

How PFLT scores on the Asset Management Specialized defenses

Fee Revenue Quality

Score 41 · 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 24 · 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 51 · 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 30 · 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 21 · 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 PFLT's moat

What is PFLT's moat score?

PFLT (PFLT) scores 36 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as developing. It ranks #135 of 173 scored companies in Asset Management, the top 78%. 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 Capital Efficiency (51/100) and its weakest is Balance Sheet Strength (21/100).

How does PFLT compare with other Asset Management companies?

PFLT ranks #135 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 53753 (BMN) at 36 just above it and Blue Owl Capital Inc. (OWL) at 35 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 PFLT 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 PFLT?

The Asset Management Specialized template measures 6 defenses, and PFLT scores: Fee Revenue Quality (41), Client Retention & Revenue Stickiness (24), Compensation Discipline (37), Capital Efficiency (51), Earnings Quality & Cash Conversion (30), Balance Sheet Strength (21). 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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