Pool Corporation distributes swimming pool supplies, equipment, related leisure, irrigation, and landscape maintenance products in the United States and internationally. The company offers maintenance products, including chemicals, supplies, and pool accessories; repair and replacement parts for pool equipment, such as cleaners, filters, heaters, pumps, and lights; and building materials, such as concrete, plumbing and electrical components, functional and decorative pool …
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Competitive advantage assessment
Key strengths
Cost Leadership PositionOperating margin at 84.2th percentile with strong OpEx control demonstrates cost leadership.
ROIC Sustainably Above PeersROIC at 63.2th percentile exceeds peers and WACC, demonstrating superior capital allocation.
Key risks
Revenue Volatility Signals Weak StickinessRevenue volatility is high (stability score 0.16), suggesting weak customer stickiness.
Volatile Margins Suggest CyclicalityMargin volatility is high (stability score 0.16), suggesting cyclical exposure or competitive pressure.
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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Pool Corporation ranks #12 of 21
scored companies in Industrial Distribution by moat score — the top 57%.
The widest moat in the group is Fastenal Company (FAST)
at 91/100.
Moat scores for companies ranked near POOL in Industrial Distribution
Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.
Cost Advantage
Score 75
· 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 36
· 15% of the moat score
Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.
Capital Efficiency
Score 50
· 18% of the moat score
Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.
Resilience
Score 48
· 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 36
· 15% of the moat score
Scale matters only when it converts into economics.
Pool Corporation (POOL) scores 46 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as developing. It ranks #12 of 21 scored companies in Industrial Distribution, the top 57%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 20 companies in Industrial Distribution. Its strongest defense is Cost Advantage (75/100) and its weakest is Scale & Market Position (36/100).
How does Pool Corporation compare with other Industrial Distribution companies?
Pool Corporation ranks #12 of 21 scored companies in Industrial Distribution by moat score. The widest moat in Industrial Distribution is Fastenal Company (FAST) at 91/100. The companies ranked closest are Transcat, Inc. (TRNS) at 47 just above it and EVI Industries, Inc. (EVI) at 44 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 20 companies in Industrial Distribution. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.
Why is Pool Corporation 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 Pool Corporation?
The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and POOL scores: Pricing Power (39), Cost Advantage (75), Customer Stickiness (36), Capital Efficiency (50), Resilience (48), Scale & Market Position (36). 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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