Virtus Investment Partners, Inc VRTS

Competitive advantage analysis · financial-services

Asset Management Specialized
Overall moat score
52/100
Moderate

About Virtus Investment Partners, Inc

Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to individual and institutional clients. It launches separate client focused equity and fixed income portfolios. The firm launches equity, fixed income, and balanced mutual funds for its clients. It invests in the public equity, fixed income, and real estate markets. The firm also invests … Full VRTS analysis →

Competitive advantage assessment

Key strengths

  • High Return on Equity Return on equity ranks highly vs peers (score 0.75).
  • Sticky AUM Base Revenue stickiness is high (stability score 0.97).

Key risks

  • High Compensation Costs Compensation costs relative to peers are high (score 0.20).
  • Fee Margin Pressure Fee margin quality is below peers (score 0.20).

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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Fee Revenue Quality

Developing
42

Where VRTS ranks in Asset Management

Virtus Investment Partners, Inc ranks #79 of 173 scored companies in Asset Management by moat score — the top 46%. The widest moat in the group is Sound Point Meridian Capital Inc (SPMC) at 77/100.

Moat scores for companies ranked near VRTS in Asset Management
# Company Moat score Rating
75 Stellus Capital Investment Corp SCM 53/100 Moderate
76 Gladstone Capital Corporation GLAD 52/100 Moderate
77 Fidus Investment Corporation FDUS 52/100 Moderate
78 Palmer Square Capital BDC Inc PSBD 52/100 Moderate
79 Virtus Investment Partners, Inc VRTS 52/100 Moderate
80 Artisan Partners Asset Manageme APAM 51/100 Moderate
81 SWK Holdings Corporation SWKH 51/100 Moderate
82 Diamond Hill Investment Group, DHIL 51/100 Moderate
83 Angel Oak Financial Strategies Income Term Trust FINS 50/100 Moderate

See every Asset Management & Capital Markets company ranked by moat score →

How VRTS scores on the Asset Management Specialized defenses

Fee Revenue Quality

Score 42 · 20% of the moat score

Fee revenue quality is the ability to charge above the industry's falling average and keep charging it.

Client Retention & Revenue Stickiness

Score 63 · 18% of the moat score

Assets under management leave far more easily than they arrive, and the fee leaves with them.

Compensation Discipline

Score 26 · 18% of the moat score

Compensation is the largest expense in asset management and the one that decides whether a good year ever reaches shareholders.

Capital Efficiency

Score 82 · 20% of the moat score

Asset managers are asset-light: with little capital employed, a healthy business should earn a very high return on equity, and a merely average one is a real warning.

Earnings Quality & Cash Conversion

Score 57 · 14% of the moat score

Reported profits here can be flattered by performance fees, seed-capital gains and consolidated fund accounting, none of which recur reliably.

Balance Sheet Strength

Score 31 · 10% of the moat score

Because the business needs so little capital, an asset manager carrying meaningful debt has usually borrowed to buy another manager or to fund distributions.

How each Asset Management Specialized defense is measured, in full →

Understanding VRTS's moat

What is Virtus Investment Partners, Inc's moat score?

Virtus Investment Partners, Inc (VRTS) scores 52 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #79 of 173 scored companies in Asset Management, the top 46%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 174 companies in Asset Management. Its strongest defense is Capital Efficiency (82/100) and its weakest is Compensation Discipline (26/100).

How does Virtus Investment Partners, Inc compare with other Asset Management companies?

Virtus Investment Partners, Inc ranks #79 of 173 scored companies in Asset Management by moat score. The widest moat in Asset Management is Sound Point Meridian Capital Inc (SPMC) at 77/100. The companies ranked closest are Palmer Square Capital BDC Inc (PSBD) at 52 just above it and Artisan Partners Asset Manageme (APAM) at 51 just below it.

How is the moat score calculated?

Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Asset Management 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 174 companies in Asset Management. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is Virtus Investment Partners, Inc scored with the Asset Management Specialized template?

An asset manager owns almost nothing. It charges a fee on someone else's money, pays much of that fee out in compensation, and keeps the remainder — so its economics turn on the fee rate it can defend, whether client money stays, and how much revenue survives the bonus pool. The Asset Management template scores those questions rather than the balance sheet, which in this industry is largely beside the point.

Which competitive defenses are measured for Virtus Investment Partners, Inc?

The Asset Management Specialized template measures 6 defenses, and VRTS scores: Fee Revenue Quality (42), Client Retention & Revenue Stickiness (63), Compensation Discipline (26), Capital Efficiency (82), Earnings Quality & Cash Conversion (57), Balance Sheet Strength (31). 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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