Does ESAB Corporation have an economic moat?

Based on its FY2025 SEC filings, the Moat Index scores ESAB Corporation (ESAB) 59.5 out of 100 — a Shallow moat. The four filters behind that score (each 0–100): pricing power 61, returns on capital 51, balance-sheet safety 71, capital discipline 58.

Is ESAB stock trading below its intrinsic value?

Against a deliberately conservative owner-earnings model (9% discount rate, 0% assumed growth, capped at 4%), estimated intrinsic value is $48.23 per share versus a recent price of $89.78 — 86% above value. This is an educational estimate computed from primary SEC filings, not investment advice.

How has ESAB's Moat Score changed over time?

The record logs 1 reading since Jul 18, 2026; the latest reads 59.5 out of 100 (shallow moat). No tier changes on record yet. The history is append-only — readings are only ever added, never rewritten.

The Moat Index

ESAB Corporation

ESAB · Industrials · $5.5B mkt cap · FY2025 filings · Shallow moat ·

Doesn't clear the bar

Shallow moat

The four filters

Pricing power61

Median gross margin 35.8% over 6y, very stable.

Returns on capital51

Median ROIC 10.1%, above the 9% hurdle in 83% of years.

Balance-sheet safety71

Net debt/EBITDA 2.1x, no material interest expense disclosed.

Capital discipline58

Owner earnings +6.3%/yr, share count growing (dilution).

Margin of safety

Above valueOn sale

86% above value

Owner earnings (normalized): $263.6M
Est. intrinsic value / share: $48.23
Recent price: $89.78
Discount to value: 86% above value

Conservative model: 9% discount rate, 0% assumed growth (capped at 4%), maintenance capex ≈ min(capex, D&A).

7 years of fundamentals

The business, in plain English

ESAB Corporation booked $2.8B of revenue in FY2025 in the Industrials sector and kept 36.9% of it as gross profit — a solid-margin business by that measure. After every other cost, 8.0% of each revenue dollar reached the bottom line.

Across the filed record, revenue grew from $2.0B (FY2020) to $2.8B (FY2025) — about 7.8% a year compounded over 5 years.

It earned 10.1% on invested capital in FY2025, with a median of 10.1% across 6 filed years. The Returns on Capital filter above scores it 51/100.

The balance sheet carried $1.2B of total debt in FY2025 against $263.6M of owner earnings — roughly 4.7 years of owner earnings to retire it all. Balance-Sheet Safety scores it 71/100.

Put together: Balance-Sheet Safety is the strongest of the four filters (71/100) and Returns on Capital the weakest (51/100), which is how ESAB lands at 60/100 — a Shallow moat.

This breakdown is generated from the filed numbers and sub-scores above — no outside narrative, no estimates. Where a filing doesn’t disclose an input, the sentence that would need it is omitted instead of guessed.

RevenueSales, as filed$2.8B FY2025

Gross marginRevenue kept after cost of goods36.9% FY2025

Return on invested capitalOperating profit on the capital employed10.1% FY2025

Owner earningsCash an owner could take out$263.6M FY2025

Gaps in a line mean that item isn’t in ESAB’s filings for that year — the series is never interpolated or estimated. The Table view lists every filed value, including operating and net margins, total debt, and share count.

Moat Score history

Moat Score over timeLast scored reading of each day, on the 0–100 scale59.5 / 100

Score history begins Jul 18, 2026 — the record builds from here and can’t be backfilled.

Tier changesSame-methodology crossings of the Wide / Narrow / Shallow bars

None yet — ESAB has read Shallow moat for every logged capture since Jul 18, 2026.

Scores are logged append-only and never overwritten — this record can’t be backfilled, which is exactly why it’s worth keeping.

Track record

How ESAB Corporation’s moat rated in each of the years we can reconstruct from its filings — scored only on what was knowable at the time — and what its price and returns did afterward. The score never saw a price; the two are joined only in hindsight, for education, not as a signal.

As-of Moat Score (dot colored by tier)Indexed price (total-return (dividends reinvested))Rated Wide-moat that year

How to read this: each dot is what the engine would have scored ESAB on that December 31; the line below is its total-return price path (dividends reinvested) in the years since.

Two tracks, one timeline: the score has its own 0–100 scale (top), the price its own 100-based scale (bottom) — never a shared axis. The price path is a total-return (dividends reinvested) index built from the same data the forward returns use; gaps in the score line are years with no reconstructed rating (see the table for why). The Table view carries every value.

What followed, in the years it rated Wide

In the reconstructed history shown, ESAB did not rate Wide-moat in any year, so there is no wide-moat track record to report. That absence is itself the honest answer — we don’t manufacture a comparison where the rating never earned one.

Industrials context

#84 of 327 scored Industrials companies, ranked by Moat Score.

Nearest peers by Moat Score

#82NVT nVent Electric plc59.7 out of 100, Shallow moatShallow moat
#83MCK McKESSON CORPORATION59.5 out of 100, Shallow moatShallow moat
#85GNRC GENERAC HOLDINGS INC.58.9 out of 100, Shallow moatShallow moat
#86BDC BELDEN INC.58.8 out of 100, Shallow moatShallow moat

Compare ESAB with its nearest peers →All Industrials companies on the Index →

Common questions about ESAB

Does ESAB Corporation have an economic moat?: Based on its FY2025 SEC filings, the Moat Index scores ESAB Corporation (ESAB) 59.5 out of 100 — a Shallow moat. The four filters behind that score (each 0–100): pricing power 61, returns on capital 51, balance-sheet safety 71, capital discipline 58.
Is ESAB stock trading below its intrinsic value?: Against a deliberately conservative owner-earnings model (9% discount rate, 0% assumed growth, capped at 4%), estimated intrinsic value is $48.23 per share versus a recent price of $89.78 — 86% above value. This is an educational estimate computed from primary SEC filings, not investment advice.
How has ESAB's Moat Score changed over time?: The record logs 1 reading since Jul 18, 2026; the latest reads 59.5 out of 100 (shallow moat). No tier changes on record yet. The history is append-only — readings are only ever added, never rewritten.

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Scored from primary SEC filings via the public methodology. Educational only — not a recommendation to buy or sell ESAB. See the disclaimer.