BrightView (NYSE:BV) and Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.A) Head-To-Head Comparison

Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.A) and BrightView (NYSE:BV) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Crawford & Company and BrightView”s revenue, earnings per share 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	30.32
BrightView	$2.67 billion	0.46	$56.00 million	($0.07)	-186.57

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

Risk and Volatility

Crawford & Company has a beta of 0.8, suggesting that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BrightView has a beta of 1.17, suggesting that its share price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Crawford & Company and BrightView’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%
BrightView	1.70%	7.25%	2.73%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Crawford & Company and BrightView, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Crawford & Company	0	0	1	0	3.00
BrightView	3	2	3	1	2.22

Crawford & Company currently has a consensus target price of $14.00, suggesting a potential upside of 28.25%. BrightView has a consensus target price of $14.52, suggesting a potential upside of 11.15%. Given Crawford & Company’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Crawford & Company is more favorable than BrightView.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

22.6% of Crawford & Company shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.4% of BrightView shares are owned by institutional investors. 54.3% of Crawford & Company shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of BrightView shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

BrightView beats Crawford & Company on 8 of the 15 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 BrightView

BrightView Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides commercial landscaping services in the United States. It operates through two segments, Maintenance Services and Development Services. The Maintenance Services segment delivers a suite of recurring commercial landscaping services, including mowing, gardening, mulching and snow removal, water management, irrigation maintenance, tree care, golf course maintenance, and specialty turf maintenance. Its customers' properties include corporate and commercial properties, homeowners associations, public parks, hotels and resorts, airport authorities, municipalities, hospitals and other healthcare facilities, educational institutions, restaurants and retail, and golf courses. This segment's customer base includes approximately 8,800 office parks and corporate campuses 7,100 residential communities, and 550 educational institutions. The Development Services segment offers landscape architecture and development services for new facilities and redesign projects. Its services include project design and management services, landscape architecture and installation, irrigation installation, tree moving and installation, pool and water features, sports field, and other services. BrightView Holdings, Inc. also operates as official field consultant to various league baseball. The company was founded in 1939 and is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania.