Crawford & Company (CRD.A) vs. The Competition Financial Survey

Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.A) is one of 58 publicly-traded companies in the “BUSINESS SVCS” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare Crawford & Company to similar companies based on the strength of its profitability, earnings, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

22.6% of Crawford & Company shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.3% of shares of all “BUSINESS SVCS” companies are held by institutional investors. 55.3% of Crawford & Company shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 14.9% of shares of all “BUSINESS SVCS” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Crawford & Company and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Crawford & Company	1.50%	26.21%	5.74%
Crawford & Company Competitors	4.64%	45.23%	6.88%

Dividends

Crawford & Company pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Crawford & Company pays out 75.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “BUSINESS SVCS” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.4% and pay out -58.7% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Crawford & Company and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Crawford & Company	0	0	1	0	3.00
Crawford & Company Competitors	307	1285	1996	107	2.52

Crawford & Company currently has a consensus target price of $14.00, suggesting a potential upside of 29.10%. As a group, “BUSINESS SVCS” companies have a potential upside of 20.14%. Given Crawford & Company’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Crawford & Company is more favorable than its competitors.

Risk and Volatility

Crawford & Company has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Crawford & Company’s competitors have a beta of 2.88, indicating that their average share price is 188% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Crawford & Company and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Crawford & Company	$1.31 billion	$19.63 million	27.11
Crawford & Company Competitors	$4.44 billion	$156.10 million	-8.79

Crawford & Company’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Crawford & Company. Crawford & Company is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Crawford & Company competitors beat Crawford & Company on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About Crawford & Company

Crawford & Company provides claims management and outsourcing solutions to the risk management and insurance industry, and self-insured entities. The company's Crawford Claims Solutions segment offers claims management services related to property, casualty, and catastrophe losses caused by physical damage to commercial and residential real properties, and personal properties, as well as marine losses. It also offers services in the areas of field investigation, catastrophe, evaluation, and resolution of property and casualty insurance claims; and various on-demand inspection, verification, and other task specific field services for businesses and consumers through a mobile platform. Its Crawford TPA Solutions segment provides claims and risk management services; desktop claim adjusting and claims evaluation services; initial loss reporting services for claimants; loss mitigation services, such as medical bill review and case management, and vocational rehabilitation services; and risk management information services, as well as administers trust funds established to pay claims. It offers services for workers' compensation, auto and liability, disability absence and medical management, and accident and health markets. The company's Crawford Specialty Solutions segment offers claims management services related to large and complex losses in various industries, such as commercial property, aviation, forensic accounting, marine and transportation, retail, building and construction, cyber, and energy. It also provides a customer-centric solution for various loss types comprising high-frequency and low-complexity claims, and large complex repairs; and outsourced contractor management services to personal and commercial insurance carriers, and consumer markets. The company operates in the United States, the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe, Canada, Australia, and internationally. Crawford & Company was founded in 1941 and is based in Peachtree Corners, Georgia.