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The Moat Index

HYDROFARM HOLDINGS GROUP, INC.

HYFM · Industrials · $3.2M mkt cap · FY2025 filings · No moat ·

Doesn't clear the bar

11/ 100
No moat

The four filters

Pricing power2

Median gross margin 16.6% over 7y, variable.

Returns on capital0

Median ROIC -11.8%, above the 9% hurdle in 0% of years.

Balance-sheet safety28

Net debt/EBITDA n/ax, interest coverage -21x.

Capital discipline24

Owner earnings trend unclear, share count growing (dilution).

Margin of safety

Above valueOn sale
No price data
Owner earnings (normalized)
—
Est. intrinsic value / share
—
Recent price
$0.68
Discount to value
No price data

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

8 years of fundamentals

The business, in plain English

HYDROFARM HOLDINGS GROUP, INC. booked $134.3M of revenue in FY2025 in the Industrials sector and kept 11.3% of it as gross profit — a thin-margin business by that measure. After every other cost, −215.9% of each revenue dollar reached the bottom line.

Across the filed record, revenue shrank from $235.1M (FY2019) to $134.3M (FY2025) — about −8.9% a year compounded over 6 years.

It earned −517.2% on invested capital in FY2025, with a median of −11.8% across 6 filed years. The Returns on Capital filter above scores it 0/100.

The balance sheet carried $111.9M of total debt in FY2025. Balance-Sheet Safety scores it 28/100.

The share count fell 86.1% between FY2020 and FY2025 — management has been retiring shares, which concentrates each remaining owner's claim. Capital Discipline scores it 24/100.

Put together: Balance-Sheet Safety is the strongest of the four filters (28/100) and Returns on Capital the weakest (0/100), which is how HYFM lands at 11/100 — a None 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.

FY2018–FY2025 · 8 fiscal years, normalized from HYFM’s SEC filings

RevenueSales, as filed$134.3M FY2025
$0$200M$400M201820212025
Gross marginRevenue kept after cost of goods11.3% FY2025
0%10%20%201820212025
Return on invested capitalOperating profit on the capital employed−517.2% FY2025
−500%−250%0%201820212025
Owner earningsCash an owner could take out−$267.7M FY2025
−$200M$0201820212025

Gaps in a line mean that item isn’t in HYFM’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

4 logged readings since Jul 17, 2026 · append-only, never rewritten

Moat Score over timeLast scored reading of each day, on the 0–100 scale11.0 / 100
0406080100WideNarrowShallowNo moatJul 17, 2026Jul 18, 2026

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

None yet — HYFM has read No moat for every logged capture since Jul 17, 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 HYDROFARM HOLDINGS GROUP, INC.’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 scores 2021–2025, one methodology version · reconstructed from filings on file each Dec 31 — never with hindsight

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 HYFM on that December 31; the line below is its total-return price path (dividends reinvested) in the years since.

0406080100WideNarrowShallowNo moatAs-of Moat Score0.20.5125102050100Indexed price · log scale (2021 = 100)202120222023202420252026

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, HYFM 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

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

Nearest peers by Moat Score

  1. #320COSM Cosmos Health Inc.12.1No moat
  2. #321ORN ORION GROUP HOLDINGS, INC.11.4No moat
  3. #323PLUG Plug Power Inc.10.3No moat
  4. #324AQMS AQUA METALS, INC.10.3No moat

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

Common questions about HYFM

Does HYDROFARM HOLDINGS GROUP, INC. have an economic moat?
Based on its FY2025 SEC filings, the Moat Index scores HYDROFARM HOLDINGS GROUP, INC. (HYFM) 11.0 out of 100 — below the Shallow-moat bar, so no moat. The four filters behind that score (each 0–100): pricing power 2, returns on capital 0, balance-sheet safety 28, capital discipline 24.
How has HYFM's Moat Score changed over time?
The record logs 4 readings since Jul 17, 2026; the latest reads 11.0 out of 100 (no 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 HYFM. See the disclaimer.