Inflation is another important reason to favor economic moats

Until now, it has been much easier to ignore inflation for the last 40 years. However, for those of you who are accustomed to Buffett’s writings, then you must know that inflation was never missing in his conversations in the 1970s and early 1980s.

What he tried to emphasize then was that it’s extremely harsh for companies (even more for those that are most exposed to inflationary cost pressures) to earn satisfying returns for shareholders when the inflation is high.

Only a couple of companies, those that already have very strong economic moats, can actually raise their prices to offset the debilitation of getting more power. The underlying pricing power is one of the many reasons why moat companies are so appreciated. They can easily withstand whatever the microenvironment throws their way.