You can screen for wide-moat stocks without waiting for an analyst to label them. A moat shows up in the numbers: high returns on equity, fat operating margins and low debt, year after year. ScreenerHero's Moat Score combines those into one 0 to 100 number, and a score of 75 or more is our "wide moat" band.
Last updated: October 2026.
What the Moat Score is, and is not
The Moat Score is our own quantitative composite. It averages four parts, each capped between zero and full marks:
- Return on equity, full marks at 20% or more
- Operating margin, full marks at 20% or more
- Net margin, full marks at 15% or more
- Leverage, full marks at zero debt to equity and none at 2 or more
Read the bands this way: 75 or above is a wide moat, 50 to 74 is narrow, below 25 is none.
It is not a judgement about competitive advantage. It measures the financial result of one. A company with a brand, network or cost advantage tends to earn high returns and margins with little debt, and the score finds those. It can also flag a company that is simply having a very good year, and it knows nothing about a moat that has not yet shown up in the accounts. Analyst-assigned moat ratings, such as Morningstar's, are a different thing; see how the Morningstar screener compares.
The screen, step by step
- Select your exchanges.
- Set Moat Score to a minimum of 75.
- Set a minimum market cap of 500 million euros.
- Add a valuation filter. A great business bought at any price is not a great investment, so add P/E below 25 or EV/EBITDA below 15.
- Sort by market cap and read the top 20.
Open this screen directly and change any value.
Which sectors show up
Expect asset-light, high-margin businesses: software, medical devices, luxury, specialty chemicals, data and exchanges. Banks, insurers and utilities score poorly because debt is part of their model, so the score is not meant for them. For those sectors use sector-specific guides such as European banks.