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Is Crawford & Company (CRD.A) Stock Outpacing Its Business Services Peers This Year?

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The Business Services group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Crawford (CRD.A - Free Report) is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Business Services peers, we might be able to answer that question.

Crawford is a member of the Business Services sector. This group includes 335 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #9. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.

The Zacks Rank is a proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. Crawford is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CRD.A's full-year earnings has moved 46.8% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that CRD.A has returned about 75.9% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Business Services group have gained about 1.4% on average. This shows that Crawford is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another Business Services stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is UiPath (PATH - Free Report) . The stock has returned 12.1% year-to-date.

In UiPath's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 21.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Crawford belongs to the Business - Services industry, which includes 25 individual stocks and currently sits at #71 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 9.1% this year, meaning that CRD.A is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

UiPath, however, belongs to the Technology Services industry. Currently, this 195-stock industry is ranked #117. The industry has moved 0% so far this year.

Going forward, investors interested in Business Services stocks should continue to pay close attention to Crawford and UiPath as they could maintain their solid performance.


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