FATE

Fate Therapeutics, Inc. (FATE) Economic Moat Analysis (2026)

Invetso Score: 2.6/10 — Weak · Last Updated: 2026-08-01

Overall Score

Profitability Returns

TTM margins remain deeply negative, with gross margin at -3.4%, operating margin at -20.6%, and net margin at -19.4%.

Returns remain severely negative, including ROA of -48.4%, ROE of -65.1%, and ROIC of -57.5%.

Scale Pricing Power

Revenue per share is only 0.054 while price-to-sales remains extremely elevated at 43.6x, indicating no evidence of pricing power or scale efficiency.

Asset turnover is just 0.025, reinforcing very weak monetization of the asset base.

Balance Sheet Resilience

Liquidity is strong with a current ratio of 4.85 and cash ratio near 1.0, giving the company near-term flexibility.

Debt appears manageable with debt-to-equity of 0.49 and net debt to EBITDA still modestly negative, though profitability remains weak.

Capital Efficiency

Capital efficiency remains poor, with return on invested capital at -57.5% and return on capital employed at -58.7%.

Free cash flow remains negative at -105.7M TTM, so the business is not yet converting investment into durable economic value.

Moat Durability

There is no clear evidence of a durable moat from the current financial profile, as weak margins and returns persist despite a healthy liquidity position.

High R&D intensity at 15.0% of revenue suggests ongoing investment, but it has not yet translated into durable operating advantages.

Sources

  • Company filings (10-K, 10-Q, investor presentations)
  • Financial and market data providers
  • Public news and industry information

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