Financial Analysis: Investors Title (NASDAQ:ITIC) & Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.B)

Investors Title (NASDAQ:ITIC) and Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.B) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, earnings, valuation and institutional ownership.

Dividends

Investors Title pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Crawford & Company pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Investors Title pays out 8.6% 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.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Investors Title and Crawford & Company”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Investors Title	$272.76 million	2.00	$35.18 million	$21.35	13.50
Crawford & Company	$1.31 billion	0.44	$19.63 million	$0.48	24.57

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Investors Title and Crawford & Company, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Investors Title	0	0	1	0	3.00
Crawford & Company	0	1	0	0	2.00

Institutional and Insider Ownership

41.4% of Investors Title shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 11.0% of Crawford & Company shares are owned by institutional investors. 26.0% of Investors Title shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 51.0% of Crawford & Company shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Investors Title has a beta of 0.6, suggesting that its share price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Crawford & Company has a beta of 0.63, suggesting that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Investors Title	13.80%	14.62%	11.02%
Crawford & Company	1.81%	28.15%	6.51%

Summary

Investors Title beats Crawford & Company on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Investors Title

Investors Title Company engages in the issuance of residential and commercial title insurance for residential, institutional, commercial, and industrial properties. The company underwrites land title insurance for owners and mortgagees as a primary insurer; and assumes the reinsurance of title insurance risks from other title insurance companies. It offers services in connection with tax-deferred exchanges of like-kind property; acts as a qualified intermediary in tax-deferred exchanges of property; coordinates the exchange aspects of the real estate transaction, such as drafting standard exchange documents, holding the exchange funds between the sale of the old property and the purchase of the new property, and accepting the formal identification of the replacement property. In addition, it serves as an exchange accommodation titleholder for accomplishing reverse exchanges when the taxpayers decide to acquire replacement property before selling the relinquished property. Further, the company offers investment management and trust services to individuals, companies, banks, and trusts; and consulting and management services to clients to start and operate a title insurance agency. It issues title insurance policies directly and through a network of agents in 22 states and the District of Columbia, primarily in the eastern half of the United States. Investors Title Company was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

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.