MARCUS CORP

MCS · Communications · FY2025 filings · No moat ·

Doesn't clear the bar

No moat
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The five investor questions

Revenue & EPS trend59

2011–2025: revenue 377004000.00 to 758458000.00, increasing; diluted EPS 0.46 to 0.41, decreasing. Diluted EPS was derived from net income and diluted weighted-average shares in 15 years where the direct tag was absent.

Pricing power

Not enough years of gross-margin data to score pricing power.

Returns on capital11

Median ROIC 4.8%, above the 12% hurdle in 30% of years.

Balance-sheet safety28

Net debt/EBITDA n/ax, interest coverage 1x.

Capital discipline20

Owner earnings -11.4%/yr, share count n/a.

The pricingPower component abstained: Not enough years of gross-margin data to score pricing power. The other four 20% weights were renormalized over the scored 80%.

Price vs. owner-earnings value range

Above estimateBelow estimate
No price data
Owner earnings (normalized)
$12.7M
Value range / share
Conservative high estimate / share
Recent price
$23.78
Price vs. high estimate
No price data

Conservative range under moat-index@2.0.0: low end 11.1×, high end capped at 18×; 9% discount rate; high-end growth 0% (capped at 4%) using min(5y revenue CAGR, 5y diluted-EPS CAGR), clamped to 0%–4%; maintenance capex uses min(capex, D&A); abstain when D&A is unavailable. This is a disclosed model range, not intrinsic value as fact.

17 years of fundamentals

The business, in plain English

Across the filed record, revenue grew from $379.1M (FY2010) to $758.5M (FY2025) — about 4.7% a year compounded over 15 years.

It earned 3.9% on invested capital in FY2025, with a median of 7.9% across 16 filed years. The Returns on Capital filter above scores it 11/100.

The balance sheet carried $180.4M of total debt in FY2022. Balance-Sheet Safety scores it 28/100.

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.

FY2009–FY2025 · 17 fiscal years, normalized from MCS’s SEC filings

RevenueSales, as filed$758.5M FY2025
$0$500M2009201520212025
Gross marginRevenue kept after cost of goods

Not disclosed in MCS’s filings for these years — we don’t estimate it.

Return on invested capitalOperating profit on the capital employed3.9% FY2025
−20%0%2009201520212025
Owner earningsCash an owner could take out$12.7M FY2025
$02009201520212025

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

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

Moat Score over timeLast scored reading of each day, on the 0–100 scale29.1 / 100
0406080100WideNarrowShallowNo moatJul 20, 2026Jul 21, 2026

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

  1. Methodology upgraded moat-index@1.2.0tomoat-index@2.0.0 — readings across versions aren’t comparedJul 20, 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 MARCUS CORP’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 20112025, 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 MCS on that December 31; the line below is its total-return price path (dividends reinvested) in the years since.

0406080100WideNarrowShallowNo moatAs-of Moat Score100200Indexed price · log scale (2012 = 100)201120142017202020232026

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, MCS 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.

Communications context

#92 of 135 scored Communications companies, ranked by Moat Score.

Nearest peers by Moat Score

  1. #90MDIA MediaCo Holding Inc.30.4 out of 100, No moatNo moat
  2. #91ATNI ATN INTERNATIONAL, INC.29.2 out of 100, No moatNo moat
  3. #93CMLS Cumulus Media Inc27.9 out of 100, No moatNo moat
  4. #94TOON KARTOON STUDIOS, INC.27.3 out of 100, No moatNo moat

Compare MCS with its nearest peersAll Communications companies on the Index →

Common questions about MCS

Does MARCUS CORP have an economic moat?
Based on its FY2025 SEC filings, the Moat Index scores MARCUS CORP (MCS) 29.1 out of 100 — below the Shallow-moat bar, so no moat. The five questions behind that score begin at 20% each; if exactly one genuinely lacks data, the other four weights are renormalized and disclosed. revenue and EPS trend 59, pricing power not measurable from the filings, returns on capital 11, balance-sheet safety 28, capital discipline 20.
How has MCS's Moat Score changed over time?
The record logs 8 readings since Jul 17, 2026; the latest reads 29.1 out of 100 (no moat). No tier changes on record yet. (A methodology upgrade on Jul 20, 2026 re-based the score; readings across engine versions aren't compared.) The history is append-only — readings are only ever added, never rewritten.
MARCUS CORP (MCS) Moat Score — The Moat Index · Buy Like Buffett