Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.A – Get Free Report) and Acacia Research (NASDAQ:ACTG – Get Free Report) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and valuation.
Volatility & Risk
Crawford & Company has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Acacia Research has a beta of 0.49, meaning that its share price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
22.6% of Crawford & Company shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.7% of Acacia Research shares are held by institutional investors. 54.3% of Crawford & Company shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Acacia Research shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Earnings & Valuation
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Crawford & Company | $1.31 billion | 0.37 | $19.63 million | $0.36 | 27.86 |
| Acacia Research | $285.23 million | 1.60 | $21.68 million | ($0.18) | -26.22 |
Acacia Research has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Crawford & Company. Acacia Research is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Crawford & Company, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Crawford & Company and Acacia Research’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Crawford & Company | 1.37% | 24.21% | 5.46% |
| Acacia Research | -8.53% | -2.81% | -2.11% |
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Crawford & Company and Acacia Research, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Crawford & Company | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Acacia Research | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
Crawford & Company currently has a consensus price target of $14.00, indicating a potential upside of 39.60%. Acacia Research has a consensus price target of $6.00, indicating a potential upside of 27.12%. Given Crawford & Company’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Crawford & Company is more favorable than Acacia Research.
Summary
Crawford & Company beats Acacia Research on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Crawford & Company
Crawford & Company provides claims management and outsourcing solutions to the risk management and insurance industry, and self-insured entities. The company's Crawford Claims Solutions segment offers claims management services related to property, casualty, and catastrophe losses caused by physical damage to commercial and residential real properties, and personal properties, as well as marine losses. It also offers services in the areas of field investigation, catastrophe, evaluation, and resolution of property and casualty insurance claims; and various on-demand inspection, verification, and other task specific field services for businesses and consumers through a mobile platform. Its Crawford TPA Solutions segment provides claims and risk management services; desktop claim adjusting and claims evaluation services; initial loss reporting services for claimants; loss mitigation services, such as medical bill review and case management, and vocational rehabilitation services; and risk management information services, as well as administers trust funds established to pay claims. It offers services for workers' compensation, auto and liability, disability absence and medical management, and accident and health markets. The company's Crawford Specialty Solutions segment offers claims management services related to large and complex losses in various industries, such as commercial property, aviation, forensic accounting, marine and transportation, retail, building and construction, cyber, and energy. It also provides a customer-centric solution for various loss types comprising high-frequency and low-complexity claims, and large complex repairs; and outsourced contractor management services to personal and commercial insurance carriers, and consumer markets. The company operates in the United States, the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe, Canada, Australia, and internationally. Crawford & Company was founded in 1941 and is based in Peachtree Corners, Georgia.
About Acacia Research
Acacia is a publicly traded (Nasdaq: ACTG) company that is focused on acquiring and operating businesses across the industrial, energy and technology sectors where it believes it can leverage its expertise, significant capital base, and deep industry relationships to drive value. Acacia evaluates opportunities based on the attractiveness of the underlying cash flows, without regard to a specific investment horizon. Acacia operates its businesses based on three key principles of people, process, and performance and has built a management team with demonstrated expertise in research, transactions and execution, and operations and management.
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