EQT Corporation

Moat components and scores: intangible assets 35/100, switching costs 20/100, network effects 10/100, cost advantage 82/100, efficient scale 75/100. The core of EQT’s edge is cost leadership and efficient scale in Appalachia, reinforced by vertical integration after acquiring Equitrans and by Mountain Valley Pipeline entering service in June 2024. Integration reduces third-party fees, tightens basis differentials, and improves realized pricing optionality across gathering, transmission, storage, and marketing.

Management frames the unlevered NYMEX free cash flow breakeven around $2/MMBtu, which is at the low end of the North American cost curve. Efficient scale benefits are credible in Appalachia given constrained takeaway and scarce replica-scale pipeline footprints.

That said, moat quality is fundamentally cost-based and therefore exposed to replication by other low-cost basins (notably Permian associated gas) and to regulatory interventions. Weighted across components, we arrive at a moat score of 64.