WD-40 Company WDFC

Competitive advantage analysis · basic-materials

Corporate Default
Overall moat score
81/100
Strong

About WD-40 Company

WD-40 Company engages in the provision of maintenance products and homecare and cleaning products in North America, Central and South America, Asia, Australia, Europe, India, the Middle East, and Africa. The company offers multi-purpose maintenance products that include aerosol sprays, non-aerosol trigger sprays, precision pens, and in liquid-bulk form products under the WD-40 Multi-Use brand; specialty maintenance products, such as … Full WDFC analysis →

Competitive advantage assessment

Key strengths

  • Margins Consistently Above Peers Gross margin at 55.1% (top 7%) and operating margin at 16.7% (top 11%) indicate strong pricing power.
  • Margins Stable Across Cycles Operating margin volatility is low (stability score 1.00), 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
95

Where WDFC ranks in Specialty Chemicals

WD-40 Company ranks #1 of 56 scored companies in Specialty Chemicals by moat score — the top 2%. That makes it the widest moat in the group.

Moat scores for companies ranked near WDFC in Specialty Chemicals
# Company Moat score Rating
1 WD-40 Company WDFC 81/100 Strong
2 Balchem Corporation BCPC 80/100 Strong
3 Linde plc LIN 80/100 Strong
4 NewMarket Corp NEU 80/100 Strong
5 Ecolab Inc. ECL 75/100 Moderate
6 Sherwin-Williams Company (The) SHW 74/100 Moderate
7 Oil-Dri Corporation Of America ODC 74/100 Moderate
8 Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. AXTA 72/100 Moderate
9 Cabot Corporation CBT 72/100 Moderate

See every General Corporate company ranked by moat score →

How WDFC scores on the Corporate Default defenses

Pricing Power

Score 94 · 20% of the moat score

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

Cost Advantage

Score 51 · 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 84 · 15% of the moat score

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

Capital Efficiency

Score 94 · 18% of the moat score

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

Resilience

Score 79 · 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 73 · 15% of the moat score

Scale matters only when it converts into economics.

How each Corporate Default defense is measured, in full →

Understanding WDFC's moat

What is WD-40 Company's moat score?

WD-40 Company (WDFC) scores 81 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as strong. It ranks #1 of 56 scored companies in Specialty Chemicals, the top 2%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 56 companies in Specialty Chemicals. Its strongest defense is Pricing Power (94/100) and its weakest is Cost Advantage (51/100).

How does WD-40 Company compare with other Specialty Chemicals companies?

WD-40 Company ranks #1 of 56 scored companies in Specialty Chemicals by moat score. That is the widest moat in Specialty Chemicals. The companies ranked closest are Balchem Corporation (BCPC) at 80 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 56 companies in Specialty Chemicals. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is WD-40 Company 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 WD-40 Company?

The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and WDFC scores: Pricing Power (94), Cost Advantage (51), Customer Stickiness (84), Capital Efficiency (94), Resilience (79), Scale & Market Position (73). 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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