Crawford (CRD.A) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know
Crawford (CRD.A) closed at $9.04 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.89% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.96% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.57%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 3.03%.
Heading into today, shares of the provider of claims management services to insurance companies had gained 6.41% over the past month, outpacing the Business Services sector's loss of 1.34% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.19% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from Crawford as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, Crawford is projected to report earnings of $0.16 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 6.67%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $290.7 million, up 4.18% from the prior-year quarter.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $0.87 per share and revenue of $1.24 billion, which would represent changes of +24.29% and +4.16%, respectively, from the prior year.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Crawford. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. Crawford is holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) right now.
Investors should also note Crawford's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 10.3. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 17.79.
The Business - Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 40, putting it in the top 16% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
To follow CRD.A in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
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Crawford & Company (CRD.A) : Free Stock Analysis Report
