Head-To-Head Review: SPAR Group (NASDAQ:SGRP) & Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.B)

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Crawford & Company and SPAR Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Crawford & Company	0	0	0	0	0.00
SPAR Group	1	0	0	0	1.00

Insider and Institutional Ownership

11.0% of Crawford & Company shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 9.6% of SPAR Group shares are held by institutional investors. 51.0% of Crawford & Company shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 50.9% of SPAR Group shares are held by company 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.

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Crawford & Company	$1.34 billion	0.38	$26.60 million	$0.59	17.71
SPAR Group	$163.63 million	0.13	-$3.15 million	($0.07)	-12.68

Crawford & Company has higher revenue and earnings than SPAR Group. SPAR Group 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 & Volatility

Crawford & Company has a beta of 0.7, meaning that its stock price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SPAR Group has a beta of 0.06, meaning that its stock price is 94% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Crawford & Company	2.42%	28.00%	5.92%
SPAR Group	-9.52%	-34.89%	-12.15%

Summary

Crawford & Company beats SPAR Group on 11 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About SPAR Group

SPAR Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides merchandising and brand marketing services in the Americas, the Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East, and Africa. The company offers merchandising and marketing services, such as resets and cut-ins; price and inventory audits; stock replenishment and rotation services; out of stock management; promotional event setup; and display management, as well as category management and set up services comprising category and product resets; planogram maintenance; display and shelf services; and point of purchase installation and management. It also provides remodel and retail transformation consisting of store remodels, store department resets, fixture and banner installations, pop-up store services, and store closings; and assembly and installation services, including assembly of merchandise in stores, in-store services, office setup/down-sizing services, and national in-home furniture assembly services. In addition, the company offers business analytics and insights services, such as product dashboards, stock out reporting, visit reporting, real-time service insights, and share of shelf analytics; and fulfillment and distribution services comprising distribution center staffing, point of purchase fulfillment services, kiosk prep, returns processing, picking and packing services, and inventory services. The company serves mass merchandisers; HBAs; pharmacies; and grocery, discount, dollar, convenience, cash and carry, home improvement, consumer electronics, automotive aftermarket, office supply, personal technology, beverage, household products, consumables, financial products, and independent stores. SPAR Group, Inc. was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan.