Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.A) vs. IBEX (NASDAQ:IBEX) Financial Analysis

Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.A) and IBEX (NASDAQ:IBEX) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, risk, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Crawford & Company and IBEX’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%
IBEX	7.53%	31.50%	16.25%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Crawford & Company and IBEX, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Crawford & Company	0	0	1	0	3.00
IBEX	0	2	0	0	2.00

Crawford & Company presently has a consensus price target of $14.00, suggesting a potential upside of 26.47%. IBEX has a consensus price target of $40.00, suggesting a potential upside of 35.69%. Given IBEX’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe IBEX is more favorable than Crawford & Company.

Risk and Volatility

Crawford & Company has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, IBEX has a beta of 0.69, meaning that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

22.6% of Crawford & Company shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.2% of IBEX shares are held by institutional investors. 54.3% of Crawford & Company shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.4% of IBEX shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Crawford & Company and IBEX”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Crawford & Company	$1.31 billion	0.41	$19.63 million	$0.36	30.75
IBEX	$558.27 million	0.71	$36.86 million	$3.20	9.21

IBEX has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Crawford & Company. IBEX is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Crawford & Company, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

IBEX beats Crawford & Company on 8 of the 14 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 IBEX

IBEX Limited provides end-to-end technology-enabled customer lifecycle experience solutions in the United States and internationally. The company products and services portfolio includes ibex Connect, that offers customer service, technical support, revenue generation, and other revenue generation outsourced back-office services through the CX model, which integrates voice, email, chat, SMS, social media, and other communication applications; ibex Digital, a customer acquisition solution that comprises digital marketing, e-commerce technology, and platform solutions; and ibex CX, a customer experience solution, which provides a suite of proprietary software tools to measure, monitor, and manage its clients' customer experience. It operates customer engagement and customer acquisition delivery centers. The company serves banking and financial services, delivery and logistics, health tech and wellness, high tech, retail and e-commerce, streaming and entertainment, travel and hospitality, and utility industries. The company was formerly known as IBEX Holdings Limited and changed its name to IBEX Limited in September 2019. IBEX Limited was incorporated in 2017 and is headquartered in Washington, District of Columbia. The company is a subsidiary of The Resource Group International Limited.