Lydall (LDL) and Crawford & Company (CRD.B)

This week begins with another lackluster session for the market. A number of Zacks #1 Rank stocks were still able to buck the trend, but 2 companies, especially, led the way.

The #1 position on today's Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers List was occupied by Lydall, Inc. (LDL), which was up 7.2% on Monday. Volume almost reached six digits at a little more than 98,000 shares, compared to the daily average of around 73,000.

LDL focuses on manufacturing specialty engineered products for the thermal/acoustical and filtration/separation markets. It has operations in the U.S., France, the Netherlands and Germany, with sales offices in the U.S. Europe and Asia.

It is 1 of only 3 companies from the Diversified Operations industry on today's Zacks #1 Rank List. The other 2 names are Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. (HUWHY) and LSB Industries, Inc. (LXU - Snapshot Report).

The past 30 days have seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2011 advance 25% to 76 cents per share from 61 cents. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2012 has jumped by 31% to $1.14 per share, which also suggests year-over-year profit growth of 50%. (It should be noted that the above expectations are based on only 1 estimate.)

The epicenter of this improvement was Lydall's first-quarter report from early this month. Earnings per share of 16 cents blew past the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 300%. Sales surged 43% to $108.1 million.

The company's Thermal/Acoustical and Performance Materials segments reported net sales of $21.4 million and $9.3 million, respectively, which were better than the year-ago performances.

The runner-up today on the Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers List was Crawford & Company (CRD.B - Snapshot Report), which reported a solid first-quarter report earlier this month that included a positive earnings surprise and an enhanced outlook for 2011.

As a result, shares of the company gained approximately 4.4% today, as volume moved past 250,000 shares, compared to the daily average of around 115,000.

Crawford & Company is the world's largest independent provider of claims management solutions to the risk management and insurance industry, as well as self-insured entities, with an expansive global network servicing clients in more than 70 countries.

According to the company, its first-quarter results reflected a "continued strong performance in our Legal Settlement Administration segment, and improvement in EMEA/AP (Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific) results, primarily as a result of a surge in weather-related claims activity."

The company earned 23 cents per share in the quarter, compared to 6 cents a year earlier. The result marked a positive surprise of more than 43% over the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Meanwhile, consolidated revenues before reimbursements advanced 21% to $285 million.

More importantly, though, Crawford & Company raised its guidance for the full year during the report. It now expects earnings per share between 60 cents and 70 cents, which was above the Zacks Consensus Estimate at the time, and consolidated revenue before reimbursements of $1.04 billion to $1.07 billion.

As a result, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for this year has gained approximately 27.5% in the past 30 days to 65 cents per share. (As with LDL, it should be noted that only 1 estimate accounts for this consensus.) Meanwhile, two estimates have combined for a Zacks Consensus Estimate of 58 cents for 2012, which is up 1.8% in a month.

Crawford & Company is part of the Business Services industry. There are four other names from this space on today's Zacks #1 Rank List: Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Inc. (DTG - Snapshot Report) and Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. (HTZ - Snapshot Report), both of which were featured in this article last week, as well as Sajan, Inc. (SAJA) and Viad Corp. (VVI - Snapshot Report).

Read the full analyst report on LXU

Read the full analyst report on VVI

Read the full analyst report on LDL

Read the full analyst report on CRD.B

Read the full analyst report on HTZ

Read the full analyst report on SAJA

Read the full analyst report on HUWHY

Read the full analyst report on DTG