Photronics, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of photomask products and services in the United States, Taiwan, China, Korea, Europe, and internationally. It offers photomasks that are used in the manufacture of integrated circuits and flat panel displays (FPDs); and to transfer circuit patterns onto semiconductor wafers, and FDP substrates. The company also provides electrical …
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Competitive advantage assessment
Key strengths
ROIC Sustainably Above PeersROIC at 82.1th percentile exceeds peers and WACC, demonstrating superior capital allocation.
Strong Interest Coverage & Conservative LeverageDebt serviceability is strong (score 0.84), with robust interest coverage.
Key risks
Commodity Pressure / Weak DifferentiationGross margin at 32.1th percentile with high volatility suggests weak pricing power or commoditized products.
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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Where PLAB ranks in Semiconductor Equipment & Materials
Photronics, Inc. ranks #7 of 29
scored companies in Semiconductor Equipment & Materials by moat score — the top 24%.
The widest moat in the group is ASML Holding N.V. - New York Re (ASML)
at 83/100.
Moat scores for companies ranked near PLAB in Semiconductor Equipment & Materials
Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.
Cost Advantage
Score 80
· 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 81
· 15% of the moat score
Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.
Capital Efficiency
Score 83
· 18% of the moat score
Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.
Resilience
Score 78
· 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 72
· 15% of the moat score
Scale matters only when it converts into economics.
Photronics, Inc. (PLAB) scores 73 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #7 of 29 scored companies in Semiconductor Equipment & Materials, the top 24%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 28 companies in Semiconductor Equipment & Materials. Its strongest defense is Capital Efficiency (83/100) and its weakest is Pricing Power (50/100).
How does Photronics, Inc. compare with other Semiconductor Equipment & Materials companies?
Photronics, Inc. ranks #7 of 29 scored companies in Semiconductor Equipment & Materials by moat score. The widest moat in Semiconductor Equipment & Materials is ASML Holding N.V. - New York Re (ASML) at 83/100. The companies ranked closest are Camtek Ltd. (CAMT) at 74 just above it and Onto Innovation Inc. (ONTO) at 66 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 28 companies in Semiconductor Equipment & Materials. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.
Why is Photronics, Inc. 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 Photronics, Inc.?
The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and PLAB scores: Pricing Power (50), Cost Advantage (80), Customer Stickiness (81), Capital Efficiency (83), Resilience (78), Scale & Market Position (72). 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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