Upbound Group, Inc. UPBD

Competitive advantage analysis · technology

Software & SaaS Specialized
Overall moat score
53/100
Moderate

About Upbound Group, Inc.

Upbound Group, Inc., a technology and data-driven company, provides financial solutions in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. It operates through four segments: Acima, Rent-A-Center, Brigit, and Mexico. The company also provides furniture, including mattresses, tires, consumer electronics, appliances, tools, handbags, computers, and accessories. In addition, it offers merchandise on an installment sales basis; and the lease-to-own transaction to … Full UPBD analysis →

Competitive advantage assessment

Key strengths

  • R&D Reinvestment Supports Growth R&D commitment is strong relative to peers (score 0.70).
  • Debt Covered by Cash Generation Debt capacity is solid (score 0.71), supporting resilience through cycles.

Key risks

  • Lumpy Revenue Trajectory Revenue consistency is weak (score 0.35), suggesting demand may be less recurring than peers.
  • Contracted Demand Looks Thin Contracted demand signal is weak (score 0.31), limiting evidence of strong subscription 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
68

Where UPBD ranks in Software - Application

Upbound Group, Inc. ranks #112 of 264 scored companies in Software - Application by moat score — the top 42%. The widest moat in the group is Dave Inc. (DAVE) at 80/100.

Moat scores for companies ranked near UPBD in Software - Application
# Company Moat score Rating
108 VirTra, Inc. VTSI 53/100 Moderate
109 AudioEye, Inc. AEYE 53/100 Moderate
110 QXO, Inc. QXO 53/100 Moderate
111 Unity Software Inc. U 53/100 Moderate
112 Upbound Group, Inc. UPBD 53/100 Moderate
113 PDF Solutions, Inc. PDFS 53/100 Moderate
114 Global Business Travel Group, I GBTG 53/100 Moderate
115 PAR Technology Corporation PAR 53/100 Moderate
116 Porch Group, Inc. PRCH 53/100 Moderate

See every Software & SaaS company ranked by moat score →

How UPBD scores on the Software & SaaS Specialized defenses

Pricing Power

Score 68 · 20% of the moat score

In software, pricing power is visible in gross margin: a vendor that has to discount in order to renew gives it up first.

Recurring Revenue Stickiness

Score 33 · 18% of the moat score

Recurring revenue is the model's central claim, and it is a moat only when customers renew and expand without being re-sold each year.

Innovation Engine

Score 55 · 16% of the moat score

Software is competed away rather than depreciated, so a vendor that stops investing loses its category.

Cash Scalability

Score 37 · 18% of the moat score

The test of a software business is whether growth eventually stops consuming cash.

Capital Efficiency

Score 73 · 16% of the moat score

A software platform employs very little capital, so a genuine franchise should produce high returns on it without leverage.

Balance Sheet Resilience

Score 54 · 12% of the moat score

Software companies fund years of customer acquisition before those customers pay back, which makes access to capital a strategic variable rather than a treasury detail.

How each Software & SaaS Specialized defense is measured, in full →

Understanding UPBD's moat

What is Upbound Group, Inc.'s moat score?

Upbound Group, Inc. (UPBD) scores 53 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #112 of 264 scored companies in Software - Application, the top 42%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 263 companies in Software - Application. Its strongest defense is Capital Efficiency (73/100) and its weakest is Recurring Revenue Stickiness (33/100).

How does Upbound Group, Inc. compare with other Software - Application companies?

Upbound Group, Inc. ranks #112 of 264 scored companies in Software - Application by moat score. The widest moat in Software - Application is Dave Inc. (DAVE) at 80/100. The companies ranked closest are Unity Software Inc. (U) at 53 just above it and PDF Solutions, Inc. (PDFS) at 53 just below it.

How is the moat score calculated?

Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Software & SaaS Specialized 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 263 companies in Software - Application. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is Upbound Group, Inc. scored with the Software & SaaS Specialized template?

Software costs almost nothing to reproduce, so the entire economic question is whether customers keep paying. Revenue is a subscription rather than a sale, the cost of winning a customer is paid years before that customer becomes profitable, and margins arrive only if renewals hold. The Software & SaaS template scores retention, reinvestment, and the point at which growth turns into cash.

Which competitive defenses are measured for Upbound Group, Inc.?

The Software & SaaS Specialized template measures 6 defenses, and UPBD scores: Pricing Power (68), Recurring Revenue Stickiness (33), Innovation Engine (55), Cash Scalability (37), Capital Efficiency (73), Balance Sheet Resilience (54). 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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