Reviewing Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) and Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.B)

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) and Crawford & Company (NYSE:CRD.B) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Willis Towers Watson Public and Crawford & Company, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Willis Towers Watson Public	1	2	7	1	2.73
Crawford & Company	0	0	0	0	0.00

Willis Towers Watson Public presently has a consensus price target of $351.55, indicating a potential upside of 13.75%. Given Willis Towers Watson Public’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Willis Towers Watson Public is more favorable than Crawford & Company.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Willis Towers Watson Public and Crawford & Company”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Willis Towers Watson Public	$9.81 billion	3.12	-$98.00 million	($0.50)	-618.10
Crawford & Company	$1.35 billion	0.37	$30.61 million	$0.60	16.83

Crawford & Company has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Willis Towers Watson Public. Willis Towers Watson Public 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

Willis Towers Watson Public pays an annual dividend of $3.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Crawford & Company pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Willis Towers Watson Public pays out -736.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Crawford & Company pays out 46.7% 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. Willis Towers Watson Public has increased its dividend for 8 consecutive years.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

93.1% of Willis Towers Watson Public shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 11.0% of Crawford & Company shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Willis Towers Watson Public 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 hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Willis Towers Watson Public and Crawford & Company’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Willis Towers Watson Public	-0.99%	20.02%	6.03%
Crawford & Company	1.55%	22.34%	4.18%

Volatility and Risk

Willis Towers Watson Public has a beta of 0.73, meaning that its stock price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Crawford & Company has a beta of 0.77, meaning that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Willis Towers Watson Public beats Crawford & Company on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Willis Towers Watson Public

Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company operates as an advisory, broking, and solutions company worldwide. It operates through two segments: Health, Wealth & Career and Risk & Broking. The company offers strategy and design consulting, plan management service and support, broking and administration services for health, wellbeing, and other group benefit program, including medical, dental, disability, life, voluntary benefits and other coverages; actuarial support, plan design, and administrative services for pension and retirement savings plans; retirement consulting services and solutions; and integrated solutions that consists of investment discretionary management, pension administration, core actuarial, and communication and change management assistance services. It also provides advice, data, software, and products to address clients' total rewards and talent issues; and risk advice, insurance brokerage, and consulting services in the areas of property and casualty, affinity, risk and analytics, aerospace, construction, global markets direct & facultative, financial, executive and professional risks, financial solutions, crisis management, surety, marine, and natural resources. In addition, the company offers integrated solutions that consists of investment discretionary management, pension administration, core actuarial, and communication and change management assistance services; and software and technology, risk and capital management, products and product pricing, financial and regulatory reporting, financial and capital modeling, M&A, outsourcing, and business management services. The company was formerly known as Willis Group Holdings Public Limited Company and changed its name to Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company in January 2016. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company was founded in 1828 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

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.