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Should Value Investors Buy Crawford & Company (CRD.A) Stock?

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While the proven Zacks Rank places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find strong stocks, we also know that investors tend to develop their own individual strategies. With this in mind, we are always looking at value, growth, and momentum trends to discover great companies.

Looking at the history of these trends, perhaps none is more beloved than value investing. This strategy simply looks to identify companies that are being undervalued by the broader market. Value investors rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

Luckily, Zacks has developed its own Style Scores system in an effort to find stocks with specific traits. Value investors will be interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with both "A" grades in the Value category and high Zacks Ranks are among the strongest value stocks on the market right now.

One stock to keep an eye on is Crawford & Company (CRD.A - Free Report) . CRD.A is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) and an A for Value. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 8.16, which compares to its industry's average of 17.29. CRD.A's Forward P/E has been as high as 10.45 and as low as 5.98, with a median of 8.10, all within the past year.

Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's sales. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. CRD.A has a P/S ratio of 0.38. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.79.

If you're looking for another solid Business - Services value stock, take a look at Crawford & Company (CRD.B - Free Report) . CRD.B is a # 1 (Strong Buy) stock with a Value score of A.

Additionally, Crawford & Company has a P/B ratio of 2.99 while its industry's price-to-book ratio sits at 2.97. For CRD.B, this valuation metric has been as high as 3.15, as low as 1.37, with a median of 1.79 over the past year.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Crawford & Company and Crawford & Company's great Value grade. Still, they help show that the stock is likely being undervalued at the moment. Add this to the strength of its earnings outlook, and we can clearly see that CRD.A and CRD.B is an impressive value stock right now.


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