Monday 20 November 2017

The Moat

The Moat




Moat (or economic moat) is a term that was popularized by Warren Buffet. The term simply refers to the company’s competitive advantage (over its competitors). A company with a strong moat,ensures the company’s long term profits are safeguarded. Of course the company should not only have a moat, but it should also be sustainable over a long period of time. A company which possesses wider moat characteristics (such as better brand name, pricing power, and better market share) would be more sustainable, and it would be difficult for the company’s rivals to eat away its market share.

To understand moats, think of “Eicher Motors Limited”. Eicher Motors is a major Indian automobile manufacturer. It manufactures commercial vehicles along with the iconic Royal Enfield bikes.The Royal Enfield bikes enjoy a huge fan following both in India and outside India. It has a massive brand recall. Royal Enfield caters to a niche segment which is growing fast. Their bikes are not as expensive as the Harley Davidson nor are they as inexpensive as probably the TVS bikes. It would be very hard for any company to enter this space and shake up or rattle the brand loyalty that Royal Enfield enjoys. In other words, displacing Eicher Motors from this sweet spot will require massive efforts from its competitors. This is one of Eicher Motors’ moat.

There are many companies that exhibit such interesting moats. In fact true wealth creating companies have a sustainable moat as an underlying factor. Think about Infosys – the moat was labor arbitrage between US and India, Page Industries – the moat was manufacturing and distribution license of Jockey innerwear, Prestige Industries – the moat was manufacturing and selling pressure cookers, Gruh Finance Limited – the moat was small ticket size credits disbursed to a certain market segment…so on an so forth. Hence always invest in companies which have wider economic moats.

Mutual Fund Advisor


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