QuinStreet, Inc. QNST

Competitive advantage analysis · communication-services

Corporate Default
Overall moat score
61/100
Moderate

Ranked against 44 peers in Advertising Agencies

About QuinStreet, Inc.

QuinStreet, Inc., an online performance marketing company, provides customer acquisition services for its clients in the United States and internationally. The company offers online marketing services, such as qualified clicks, leads, calls, applications, and customers through its websites or third-party publishers to financial and home services industries. It also develops the QuinStreet Rating Platform product for insurance agents and the … Full QNST analysis →

Key strengths

  • ROIC Sustainably Above Peers ROIC at 80.6th percentile exceeds peers and WACC, demonstrating superior capital allocation.
  • Strong Interest Coverage & Conservative Leverage Debt serviceability is strong (score 0.73), with robust interest coverage.

Key risks

  • Scale Without Profitability Despite scale, profitability lags peers (score 0.39), suggesting limited competitive advantage.
  • Revenue Volatility Signals Weak Stickiness Revenue volatility is high (stability score 0.31), suggesting weak customer stickiness.

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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Pricing Power

Moderate
52
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Signals, strengths and risks for Pricing Power

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Signals, strengths and risks for Cost Advantage

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Signals, strengths and risks for Customer Stickiness

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Signals, strengths and risks for Capital Efficiency

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Signals, strengths and risks for Resilience

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Signals, strengths and risks for Scale & Market Position

Where QNST ranks in Advertising Agencies

QuinStreet, Inc. ranks #12 of 45 scored companies in Advertising Agencies by moat score — the top 27%. The widest moat in the group is Glory Star New Media Group Hold (GSMGW) at 83/100.

# Company Moat score Rating
8 Nexxen International Ltd. - Ame NEXN 67/100 Moderate
9 Townsquare Media, Inc. TSQ 66/100 Moderate
10 Stagwell Inc. STGW 63/100 Moderate
11 36Kr Holdings Inc. KRKR 62/100 Moderate
12 QuinStreet, Inc. QNST 61/100 Moderate
13 Omnicom Group Inc. OMC 56/100 Moderate
14 WiMi Hologram Cloud Inc. WIMI 55/100 Moderate
15 WPP plc WPP 55/100 Moderate
16 Travelzoo TZOO 53/100 Moderate

See every General Corporate company ranked by moat score →

How QNST scores on the Corporate Default defenses

Pricing Power

Score 52 · 20% of the moat score

Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.

Cost Advantage

Score 78 · 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 58 · 15% of the moat score

Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.

Capital Efficiency

Score 69 · 18% of the moat score

Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.

Resilience

Score 63 · 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 49 · 15% of the moat score

Scale matters only when it converts into economics.

How each Corporate Default defense is measured, in full →

Understanding QNST's moat

What is QuinStreet, Inc.'s moat score?

QuinStreet, Inc. (QNST) scores 61 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #12 of 45 scored companies in Advertising Agencies, the top 27%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 44 companies in Advertising Agencies. Its strongest defense is Cost Advantage (78/100) and its weakest is Scale & Market Position (49/100).

How does QuinStreet, Inc. compare with other Advertising Agencies companies?

QuinStreet, Inc. ranks #12 of 45 scored companies in Advertising Agencies by moat score. The widest moat in Advertising Agencies is Glory Star New Media Group Hold (GSMGW) at 83/100. The companies ranked closest are 36Kr Holdings Inc. (KRKR) at 62 just above it and Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC) at 56 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 44 companies in Advertising Agencies. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is QuinStreet, 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 QuinStreet, Inc.?

The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and QNST scores: Pricing Power (52), Cost Advantage (78), Customer Stickiness (58), Capital Efficiency (69), Resilience (63), Scale & Market Position (49). 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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