Black Diamond Group (OTCMKTS:BDIMF) & Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.B) Head-To-Head Comparison

Black Diamond Group (OTCMKTS:BDIMF) and Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.B) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Dividends

Black Diamond Group pays an annual dividend of $0.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Crawford & Company pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Black Diamond Group pays out 27.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Crawford & Company pays out 50.8% 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 & Valuation

This table compares Black Diamond Group 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
Black Diamond Group	$294.14 million	2.33	$18.72 million	$0.37	27.70
Crawford & Company	$1.34 billion	0.37	$26.60 million	$0.59	16.82

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

11.0% of Crawford & Company shares are held by institutional investors. 25.2% of Black Diamond Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 51.0% of Crawford & Company shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Black Diamond Group and Crawford & Company, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Black Diamond Group	0	0	1	0	3.00
Crawford & Company	0	0	0	0	0.00

Risk & Volatility

Black Diamond Group has a beta of 0.63, suggesting that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Crawford & Company has a beta of 0.76, suggesting that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Black Diamond Group	7.20%	9.85%	4.20%
Crawford & Company	2.18%	25.91%	5.26%

Summary

Crawford & Company beats Black Diamond Group on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Black Diamond Group

Black Diamond Group Limited rents and sells modular space and workforce accommodation solutions. It operates through two segments, Modular Space Solutions and Workforce Solutions. The Modular Space Solutions segment provides modular space rentals to customers in the construction, real estate development, education, manufacturing, health care, financial, government, and defense industries in North America. Its products include office units, lavatories, storage units, large multi-unit office complexes, classroom facilities, banking and health care facilities, high security modular buildings, custom manufactured modular facilities, blast resistant structures, SmartSpace interchangeable paneled units, and storage containers. This segment also sells new and used space rentals units; and provides delivery, installation, project management, and ancillary rental items, products, and services. The Workforce Solutions segment provides workforce housing solutions, including rental of accommodations and surface equipment, and provision of turnkey lodging and travel management logistics services in Canada, the United States, and Australia. This segment also provides associated services, such as installation, transportation, dismantlement, and sale of used fleet assets. This segment primarily serves the resource, infrastructure, construction, disaster recovery, and education sectors. It also provides specialized field rentals to oil and gas industries. The company markets its rental assets, custom sales, and ancillary products and services through in-house sales personnel, its website, social media, web campaigns, and its digital marketplace. Black Diamond Group Limited was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

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.