Financial Review: IDEX (NYSE:IEX) versus Crawford United (OTCMKTS:CRAWA)

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) and Crawford United (OTCMKTS:CRAWA) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, institutional ownership and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares IDEX and Crawford United’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
IDEX	14.38%	15.29%	8.89%
Crawford United	10.08%	22.40%	13.94%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for IDEX and Crawford United, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
IDEX	0	3	6	0	2.67
Crawford United	0	0	0	0	0.00

IDEX currently has a consensus price target of $241.11, indicating a potential upside of 6.28%. Given IDEX’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe IDEX is more favorable than Crawford United.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares IDEX and Crawford United”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
IDEX	$3.46 billion	4.86	$483.20 million	$6.76	33.56
Crawford United	$150.20 million	1.95	$13.60 million	$4.95	16.65

IDEX has higher revenue and earnings than Crawford United. Crawford United is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than IDEX, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

98.0% of IDEX shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.1% of Crawford United shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of IDEX shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 37.9% of Crawford United shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

IDEX has a beta of 1, meaning that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Crawford United has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

IDEX beats Crawford United on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About IDEX

IDEX Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides applied solutions worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Fluid & Metering Technologies (FMT), Health & Science Technologies (HST), and Fire & Safety/Diversified Products (FSDP). The FMT segment designs, produces, and distributes positive displacement pumps, valves, small volume provers, flow meters, injectors, and other fluid-handling pump modules and systems, as well as flow monitoring and other services for the food, chemical, general industrial, water and wastewater, agricultural, and energy industries. The HST segment designs, produces, and distributes precision fluidics positive displacement pumps, powder and liquid processing technologies, drying systems, micro-precision components, pneumatic components and sealing solutions, high performance molded and extruded sealing components, custom mechanical and shaft seals, engineered hygienic mixers and valves, biocompatible medical devices and implantables, air compressors and blowers, optical components and coatings, laboratory and commercial equipment, and precision photonic solutions. This segment serves food and beverage, life sciences, analytical instruments, pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical, industrial, semiconductor, automotive/transportation, medical/dental, energy, cosmetics, marine, chemical, wastewater and water treatment, research and aerospace/defense markets. The FSDP segment designs, produces, and distributes firefighting pumps, valves and controls, rescue tools, lifting bags, and other components and systems for the fire and rescue industry; engineered stainless steel banding and clamping devices for various industrial and commercial applications; and precision equipment for dispensing, metering, and mixing colorants and paints used in retail and commercial businesses. IDEX Corporation was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois.

About Crawford United

Crawford United Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides specialty industrial products in the United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada, and internationally. It operates through two segments: Commercial Air Handling Equipment; and Industrial and Transportation Products. The Commercial Air Handling segment designs, manufactures, and installs large-scale commercial, institutional, and industrial custom air handling solutions to health care, education, pharmaceutical, and industrial manufacturing markets under the FactoryBilt and SiteBilt brand names. The Industrial and Transportation Products segment is involved in the manufacture of flexible interlocking metal hoses primarily to heavy-duty truck manufacturers and aftermarket suppliers, as well as to the agricultural, industrial, and petrochemical markets; and distribution of silicone and hydraulic hoses to the agriculture and general industrial markets. It also provides engineering, machining, grinding, welding, brazing, heat treat, and assembly solutions; rubber and plastic marine hose for the recreational boating industry; engineered manufacturing solutions, including CNC machining, anodizing, electro polishing, and laser marking for defense, aerospace, and medical device markets; and hydraulic hoses, air tank assemblies, and related products to manufacturers of firefighting trucks and other emergency vehicles. In addition, the company engages in the supply of highly engineered forgings for the aerospace, industrial gas turbine, medical prosthetics, alternative energy, petrochemical, and defense industries; and developing and commercializing marketing and data analytic technology applications. The company was formerly known as Hickok Incorporated and changed its name to Crawford United Corporation in May 2019. Crawford United Corporation was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.