Pat Dorsey: Economic Moats and More
The Long View
Intro
Ben and Amy introduce Pat Dorsey, his background, and Morningstar's moat framework; includes opening ad material.
Today’s guest on The Long View is Pat Dorsey. Pat is the founder of Dorsey Asset Management, a boutique asset manager serving institutional clients. From 2000 to 2011, Pat was the director of equity research for Morningstar, where he led the growth of Morningstar’s equity research group from 20 to 90 analysts. Pat was instrumental in the development of Morningstar’s economic moat ratings, as well as the methodology behind Morningstar’s framework for analyzing competitive advantage. Pat is also the author of two books, The Five Rules for Successful Stock Investing, and The Little Book That Builds Wealth. Pat holds a master’s degree in political science from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree in government from Wesleyan University. Pat is a CFA charterholder.
Episode Highlights
00:00:00 Defining Economic Moats and Moat Source Mistakes
00:05:34 Shifting Landscape for Returns on Invested Capital as a Metric
00:07:52 Inevitable vs. Noninevitable Moats
00:09:36 Moat Durability, Network Effects, and Lessons From PayPal
00:13:46 Management Quality, Founders, and Pricing Discipline
00:24:02 High-Quality Companies, “Too Hard” Bucket, and AI Uncertainty
00:29:29 Premortem, Behavioral Edge, and Opportunity Cost
More From Morningstar
AI Isn’t an Economic Moat Killer, but It Will Disrupt Industries
Lawrence Lam: ‘The Types of Companies That Attract Me Are Founder-Led and Profitable’
How to Measure a Company’s Competitive Advantage
If you have a comment or a guest idea, please email us at TheLongView@Morningstar.com.
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