SO
¿Cuál es el moat económico de The Southern Company (SO)?
The Southern Company (SO)'s economic moat is graded on the Buffett-Fit framework using two quantitative anchors and qualitative signals. The current ROIC sits at 0.0% (0.0% over 5y average) and the gross margin runs at 0.4%. Whether that constitutes a durable competitive advantage depends on whether those returns can be sustained - covered below. Educational only, not investment advice.
ROIC sustainability. The Southern Company's trailing ROIC is 0.0%, with a 5-year average of 0.0%. ROIC above 15% sustained over multiple years is the closest single quantitative proxy for moat strength - it means capital deployed in the business is earning above-average returns AND competitors haven't been able to compete those returns away. A one-year spike from a hot product cycle doesn't count; the pattern needs to hold across a full business cycle.
Gross-margin durability. The Southern Company runs a gross margin of 0.4%. Sustained gross margins above 40% in industries where peers sit lower is direct evidence of pricing power - customers are willing to pay a premium without switching, which is what a moat actually feels like in the income statement. Margin compression over multiple years signals the moat is eroding.
Qualitative signals. Beyond the numbers, moat sources include brand strength (consumer staples, luxury), switching costs (enterprise software, banking), network effects (marketplaces, payment networks), regulatory barriers (utilities, insurance), and patents (pharma, semiconductors). The Buffett-Fit verdict on /buffett/so/ identifies which of these apply to The Southern Company specifically. The moat pillar contributes roughly 25% of the overall Buffett-Fit score.
How invest-like measures this
Un moat económico es una ventaja estructural que permite a una empresa obtener rendimientos del capital superiores a la media durante largos períodos sin que esos rendimientos se erosionen por la competencia. El pilar de moat Buffett-Fit lo evalúa mediante dos anclas cuantitativas (sostenibilidad del ROIC, durabilidad del margen bruto) más señales cualitativas como fuerza de marca, costes de cambio, efectos de red, barreras regulatorias y moats de patentes.
Un ROIC por encima del 15% sostenido durante una ventana multianual - no un único año excepcional - es el mejor proxy cuantitativo único para la fortaleza del moat. Márgenes brutos sostenidos por encima del 40% en industrias donde los competidores están más abajo es poder de fijación de precios real. Ambos son necesarios, ninguno es suficiente por sí solo.
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