Moat Score
The Moat Score is this site’s 0–100 reading of how durable a business looks — an attempt to put a number on the economic moat idea using nothing but the company’s own SEC filings. A score you can’t inspect is a horoscope, so every formula, weight, and assumption behind it is published in the methodology.
Just as important is what it isn’t. It’s not a stock rating: the score is blind to price, and a wonderful business can be a terrible buy at the wrong price. It moves only when a company files new numbers — never with the daily market. And where filings don’t support a score, there isn’t one: see the coverage gate.
How the Moat Index measures this
The composite blends four sub-scores, each answering one Buffett question: pricing power (30%) from gross-margin level and stability; returns on capital (30%) from ROIC against a ~9% hurdle; balance-sheet safety (20%) from net debt and interest coverage; and capital discipline (20%) from owner-earnings growth and share-count behaviour. Scores map to moat tiers — Wide at 80 and above, Narrow from 60, Shallow from 40. The Index currently scores 2,182 companies this way. Every reading is logged with its timestamp and methodology version in an append-only history, so the record stays auditable.