Pearson plc provides educational courseware, assessments, and services in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, the Asia Pacific, other European countries, and internationally. The company operates through five segments: Assessment & Qualifications, Virtual Learning, English Language Learning, Workforce Skills, and Higher Education. The Assessment & Qualifications segment offers Pearson VUE, US student assessment, clinical assessment, UK GCSE, and A …
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Competitive advantage assessment
Key strengths
ROIC Sustainably Above PeersROIC at 78.1th percentile exceeds peers and WACC, demonstrating superior capital allocation.
Margins Stable Across CyclesOperating margin volatility is low (stability score 0.72), demonstrating pricing resilience across cycles.
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 PSO ranks in Comm Services: Media, Entertainment & Gaming
Pearson, Plc ranks #13 of 110
scored companies in Comm Services: Media, Entertainment & Gaming by moat score — the top 12%.
The widest moat in the group is Netflix, Inc. (NFLX)
at 85/100.
Moat scores for companies ranked near PSO in Comm Services: Media, Entertainment & Gaming
Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.
Cost Advantage
Score 61
· 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 86
· 15% of the moat score
Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.
Capital Efficiency
Score 78
· 18% of the moat score
Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.
Resilience
Score 75
· 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 71
· 15% of the moat score
Scale matters only when it converts into economics.
Pearson, Plc (PSO) scores 73 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #13 of 110 scored companies in Comm Services: Media, Entertainment & Gaming, the top 12%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 109 companies in Comm Services: Media, Entertainment & Gaming. Its strongest defense is Customer Stickiness (86/100) and its weakest is Cost Advantage (61/100).
How does Pearson, Plc compare with other Comm Services: Media, Entertainment & Gaming companies?
Pearson, Plc ranks #13 of 110 scored companies in Comm Services: Media, Entertainment & Gaming by moat score. The widest moat in Comm Services: Media, Entertainment & Gaming is Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) at 85/100. The companies ranked closest are Walt Disney Company (The) (DIS) at 74 just above it and News Corporation (NWS) at 73 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 109 companies in Comm Services: Media, Entertainment & Gaming. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.
Why is Pearson, Plc 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 Pearson, Plc?
The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and PSO scores: Pricing Power (69), Cost Advantage (61), Customer Stickiness (86), Capital Efficiency (78), Resilience (75), Scale & Market Position (71). 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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