REH moat, page-131

"I dunno, I see a bit of creep there. Remember if their COGS (per unit volume) has been growing, then clearly Reece's sale prices have been increasinng ahead of that (as evidenced by their expanding GM). If I remember from some of our earlier posts, any EBIT margin improvements over the last several years have all come from GM expansion (I should probably re-check the numbers). So I do see that as creep."

As I clicked the button to submit the post, I knew that some smart-alec would come back to me with that!

I guess what I should have said that, while there is indeed signs of margin creep, it does not "feel" like the sort of outcome that would arise from the monthly price increases that @mumanddad experiences first-hand.


"I struggle to see however, that if REH is really price gouging to the degree indicated by @mumanddad, that competitors would not be given sufficient exygen to flourish."

True, that.
Although, having visited the operations of a few of Reece's competitors over the years, I suspect that even if Reece gave them 10 shots at a open goal, they would still not be able to once find the back of the net.