Evaluating competitive advantages, scalability, and sustainability.
This scope is designed to help you build a practical understanding of Business Models & Moats. Lessons move from core definitions to real-world context and common failure points.
Reading in order is recommended, but each lesson stands on its own.
A business model explains how a firm creates, delivers, and captures economic value. In fundamental analysis, understanding the model clarifies the sources, durability, and scalability of cash flows that underpin intrinsic value estimates, as well as the role of competitive moats in protecting them.
A structured guide to how companies earn revenue, why revenue architecture shapes durability and margins, and how analysts connect revenue models to long-term intrinsic value and moats in fundamental analysis.
A rigorous overview of cost structures in fundamental analysis, explaining how fixed and variable costs shape profitability, operating leverage, competitive moats, and long-term intrinsic value. Includes practical examples from airlines, retail, software, and capital-intensive manufacturing.
Scalability describes how a business can increase output or revenue with proportionally less incremental cost or capital. This article explains how scalability interacts with business models and moats, how it appears in financial statements, and why it matters for long-term intrinsic value.
A rigorous explanation of operating leverage, how cost structure links revenue changes to operating income, and why the concept matters for long-term valuation and the analysis of business models and moats. Includes measurement methods, real-world illustrations, and common pitfalls.
A competitive moat is a durable structural advantage that allows a firm to earn returns above its cost of capital for longer than a typical competitor. This article explains what moats are, how they are assessed in fundamental analysis, and why they shape long-term valuation by influencing cash flow durability and the persistence of economic profit…
A rigorous explanation of network effects as a source of competitive advantage and their role in fundamental analysis, including types of network effects, how to measure their strength, limits and risks, and implications for intrinsic value and long-term cash flows.
An in-depth examination of brand and pricing power as sources of economic moat, how they shape cash flows and margins, and how to evaluate their durability within a fundamental valuation framework. The discussion covers measurement approaches, industry context, modeling implications, and real-world examples.
A detailed explanation of switching costs as a source of competitive advantage, how they shape cash flow durability, and how analysts incorporate them into intrinsic value assessments across industries and business models. Includes practical indicators, financial statement links, and real-world examples.
Capital intensity describes how much capital a business must invest to generate a unit of revenue or capacity. This article defines the concept, shows how analysts measure it, links it to free cash flow, ROIC, and moats, and illustrates how capital intensity informs long-term valuation across different business models.
