“In business, I look for economic castles protected by unbreachable moats.”
-Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett is always looking for moat stocks: Stocks that have some defense against competitors encroaching upon their customers and profits. A lead in the marketplace is important, but a moat to keep rivals at bay is the key to an enduring run by a growth stock. A stock with a wide moat, or, as Mr. Buffett put it, an “unbreachable moat,” is even more valuable.
Nvidia (NDVA) stock, for instance, has returned more than 230% in the last year alone.
This remarkable company that has a lead in designing premium semiconductor chips critical to key markets is seen as the top play for artificial intelligence.
“A new computing era has begun,” said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. “Companies worldwide are transitioning from general-purpose to accelerated computing and generative AI.”
Nvidia’s lead, and its talent pool keeping it in the lead in this sweet spot of technology, is an example of a wide and valuable moat.
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The concept of economic moats is the primary theme of a great book by Pat Dorsey called, The Little Book that Builds Wealth. Dorsey defines an economic moat as a durable competitive advantage that allows a firm to earn above-average returns on capital over a long period of time.
Since investing in a share of a stock is buying a small piece of a business, successful investing involves buying moat stocks, i.e., picking companies with a built-in advantage giving them above-average profits for as long as possible.
This is important because in a free-market economy, like a hungry tiger, capital hunts for the areas of highest return. Whenever a company develops a profitable product or service, it doesn’t take long before competitive forces drive down its economic profits. Only companies with an economic moat can hold competitors at bay and generate economic profits over an extended period.
Examples of Economic Moats & Moat Stocks
In his book, Dorsey explains that Deere & Company’s (DE) moat is its dominant dealer network.
The liquidity and the closed network of futures exchanges like the Chicago Mercantile Exchange lead to high levels of consistent profitability.
The world’s largest producer of paper pulp is based in Brazil because seedlings mature in the temperate climate of Brazil more than twice as fast as in North America.
Absolute size and scale are important and the key reason for Exxon Mobil (XOM) stock’s stellar performance with margins in refining and chemicals dwarfing the competition.
Ditto for China’s dominance in processing commodities from copper to rare earths.
Invesco’s QQQ Trust (QQQ) doesn’t quite have a monopoly on tech ETFs but it is a brand that is synonymous with tech investing. QQQ has doubled S&P 500 returns over the last decade. This $190 billion exchange-traded fund was created in 1999 by Nasdaq and is now the fifth largest ETF by assets.
An easy way to get some moat stocks into your portfolio is with the Van Eck Moat ETF (MOAT). MOAT is a basket of moat stocks trading at relatively low valuations according to a Morningstar model. It’s up 34% in the last year.
The Cabot Explorer portfolio regularly searches out companies with impressive economic moats to add to the portfolio.
To learn more about which companies we like now, join the Cabot Explorer today.
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