Reliance, Inc. RS

Competitive advantage analysis · basic-materials

Corporate Default
Overall moat score
75/100
Moderate

About Reliance, Inc.

Reliance, Inc. operates as a diversified metal solutions provider and metals service center company primarily in the United States and Canada. The company distributes a line of metal products, including alloy, aluminum, brass, copper, carbon steel, stainless steel, titanium, and other specialty steel products; and provides metals processing services to consumer products, general manufacturing, non-residential construction, transportation, aerospace, energy, electronics … Full RS analysis →

Competitive advantage assessment

Key strengths

  • Margins Consistently Above Peers Gross margin at 28.7% (top 12%) and operating margin at 7.1% (top 25%) indicate strong pricing power.
  • Margins Stable Across Cycles Operating margin volatility is low (stability score 0.92), 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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Pricing Power

Strong
86

Where RS ranks in Steel

Reliance, Inc. ranks #2 of 27 scored companies in Steel by moat score — the top 7%. The widest moat in the group is Grupo Simec, S.A.B. de C.V. (SIM) at 79/100.

Moat scores for companies ranked near RS in Steel
# Company Moat score Rating
1 Grupo Simec, S.A.B. de C.V. SIM 79/100 Strong
2 Reliance, Inc. RS 75/100 Moderate
3 Mesabi Trust MSB 73/100 Moderate
4 Commercial Metals Company CMC 69/100 Moderate
5 Steel Dynamics, Inc. STLD 69/100 Moderate
6 Nucor Corporation NUE 66/100 Moderate
7 Friedman Industries Inc. FRD 66/100 Moderate
8 Gerdau S.A. GGB 58/100 Moderate
9 Olympic Steel, Inc. ZEUS 58/100 Moderate

See every Commodities & Mining company ranked by moat score →

How RS scores on the Corporate Default defenses

Pricing Power

Score 86 · 20% of the moat score

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

Cost Advantage

Score 44 · 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 70 · 15% of the moat score

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

Capital Efficiency

Score 86 · 18% of the moat score

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

Resilience

Score 74 · 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 78 · 15% of the moat score

Scale matters only when it converts into economics.

How each Corporate Default defense is measured, in full →

Understanding RS's moat

What is Reliance, Inc.'s moat score?

Reliance, Inc. (RS) scores 75 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #2 of 27 scored companies in Steel, the top 7%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 26 companies in Steel. Its strongest defense is Pricing Power (86/100) and its weakest is Cost Advantage (44/100).

How does Reliance, Inc. compare with other Steel companies?

Reliance, Inc. ranks #2 of 27 scored companies in Steel by moat score. The widest moat in Steel is Grupo Simec, S.A.B. de C.V. (SIM) at 79/100. The companies ranked closest are Grupo Simec, S.A.B. de C.V. (SIM) at 79 just above it and Mesabi Trust (MSB) 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 26 companies in Steel. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is Reliance, 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 Reliance, Inc.?

The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and RS scores: Pricing Power (86), Cost Advantage (44), Customer Stickiness (70), Capital Efficiency (86), Resilience (74), Scale & Market Position (78). 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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