Critical Analysis: Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.B) and Globe Life (NYSE:GL)

Globe Life (NYSE:GL) and Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.B) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Globe Life and Crawford & Company, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Globe Life	0	2	8	1	2.91
Crawford & Company	0	1	0	0	2.00

Globe Life currently has a consensus target price of $191.67, suggesting a potential upside of 4.43%. Given Globe Life’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Globe Life is more favorable than Crawford & Company.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

81.6% of Globe Life shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 11.0% of Crawford & Company shares are held by institutional investors. 2.1% of Globe Life shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 51.0% of Crawford & Company shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Globe Life has a beta of 0.48, suggesting that its stock price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Crawford & Company has a beta of 0.6, suggesting that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Globe Life	$5.99 billion	2.35	$1.16 billion	$15.06	12.19
Crawford & Company	$1.30 billion	0.46	$19.63 million	$0.48	25.90

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

Dividends

Globe Life pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Crawford & Company pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Globe Life pays out 8.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Crawford & Company pays out 66.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Globe Life has raised its dividend for 20 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Globe Life and Crawford & Company’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Globe Life	19.58%	20.52%	3.96%
Crawford & Company	1.81%	28.15%	6.51%

Summary

Globe Life beats Crawford & Company on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Globe Life

Globe Life Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides various life and supplemental health insurance products, and annuities to lower middle- and middle-income families in the United States. The company operates in four segments: Life Insurance, Supplemental Health Insurance, Annuities, and Investments. It offers whole, term, and other life insurance products; Medicare supplement and supplemental health insurance products, such as accident, cancer, critical illness, heart, and intensive care plans; and single-premium and flexible-premium deferred annuities. The company sells its products through its direct to consumer division, exclusive agencies, and independent agents. The company was formerly known as Torchmark Corporation and changed its name to Globe Life Inc. in August 2019. Globe Life Inc. was founded in 1900 and is headquartered in McKinney, Texas.

About Crawford & Company

Crawford & Co. engages in the provision of claims management and outsourcing solutions to carriers, brokers, and corporates. It operates through the following segments: Crawford Loss Adjusting, Crawford TPA Solutions, and Crawford Platform Solutions. The Crawford Loss Adjusting segment consists of adjusting services provided to insurance companies and self-insured entities related to property and casualty losses caused by physical damage to commercial and residential real property and certain types of personal property. The Crawford TPA Solutions segment provides third party administration for workers’ compensation, auto and liability, disability absence management, medical management, and accident and health to corporations, brokers, and insurers worldwide. The Crawford Platform Solutions segment is involved in the management of contractor networks and the provision of claims management services to insurance companies and self-insured entities related to property, casualty, and catastrophic losses. The company was founded by Jim Crawford in 1941 and is headquartered in Peachtree Corners, GA.