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Are Investors Undervaluing Crawford & Company (CRD.B) Right Now?

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Here at Zacks, we focus on our proven ranking system, which places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, to find winning stocks. But we also understand that investors develop their own strategies, so we are constantly looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong companies for our readers.

Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of 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.

On top of the Zacks Rank, investors can also look at our innovative Style Scores system to find stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will want to focus on the "Value" category. Stocks with high Zacks Ranks and "A" grades for Value will be some of the highest-quality value stocks on the market today.

One company to watch right now is Crawford & Company (CRD.B - Free Report) . CRD.B is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock has a Forward P/E ratio of 7.17. This compares to its industry's average Forward P/E of 18.91. Over the past year, CRD.B's Forward P/E has been as high as 9.29 and as low as 6.36, with a median of 7.50.

We should also highlight that CRD.B has a P/B ratio of 2.78. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks attractive against its industry's average P/B of 3.54. Over the past year, CRD.B's P/B has been as high as 3.21 and as low as 1.37, with a median of 2.34.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. CRD.B has a P/S ratio of 0.32. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.85.

Investors could also keep in mind Mitie Group (MITFY - Free Report) , an Business - Services stock with a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) and Value grade of A.

Additionally, Mitie Group has a P/B ratio of 3.54 while its industry's price-to-book ratio sits at 3.54. For MITFY, this valuation metric has been as high as 3.82, as low as 1.96, with a median of 2.79 over the past year.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Crawford & Company and Mitie Group'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.B and MITFY is an impressive value stock right now.


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