Crawford Insights

Much of the value we deliver at Crawford is driven by the work of our equity research team, whose efforts often take place behind the scenes. The team actively follows more than 150 companies across six equity strategies and completed 44 in-depth due diligence reviews last year alone. With an average of 24 years of industry experience, deep sector knowledge, and long-standing continuity, the team...

When we came across “The Discipline Dividend,” a term we were not familiar with, we were intrigued. Unable to determine its origin and not sure what the author intended the meaning to be, we were left to form our own definition. This was an easy task because so much of what we do from an investment standpoint occurs around the concepts of discipline and dividends. In this episode, we sit down with...

At Crawford, we believe that our SMID Cap strategy is a compelling investment opportunity for long-term investors. While large caps dominate headlines today and small caps offer high growth potential with higher risk, the small-to-mid cap space has numerous investment opportunities that lie at the intersection of quality, value, and investor neglect. In this episode, we sit down with Doug Asiello,...

The banking industry has faced a notable slowdown in loan growth. This development has caught the attention of economists and investors alike, and it raises critical questions about the underlying health of the economy and the evolving investment landscape.  In this episode, we sit down with Boris Kuzmin, CFA, our Financials Analyst, to discuss why the current environment underscores the importanc...

At Crawford, we have always invested in U.S. companies with the belief that our economic system, while far from perfect, is the best system in the world. This is a characterization of our common sense approach, and we maintain this belief despite the fact that it has been out of favor with conventional wisdom in recent years. Due in part to our preference for fair markets, adequate financial discl...

There have been many periods when a particular form of investing has achieved ascendency, only to fall out of favor as different economic cycles emerge, investor preferences shift, or speculative fervor is destroyed by bear markets. These shifting cycles, or “seasons,” all present unique challenges. In recognition that these seasons are a realistic factor in the investor equation, we have attempte...

Recently, investor focus has been shifting and the result has been a broadening of participation among more sectors. With some emerging concerns about a softening economy, quality is being emphasized to a greater extent, and since this is the predominant characteristic of our portfolios, this has been reflected in our returns. All of this is welcome news. In this episode, we sit down with John Cra...

The state of real estate is a mixed picture today, with certain property types performing well and others struggling. Supply/demand trends and interest rates are having disproportionate impacts on various categories of real estate, and public market prices of REITs are well off their highs. In this episode, we sit down with Chris Kendrick, CPA, our Real Estate Analyst to discuss how we are seeking...

Given the pace of innovation and the rapid adoption of generative AI technologies, now is an exciting time to be an investor in companies with AI exposure. At Crawford, we can take advantage of these opportunities by identifying individual companies that both meet our quality requirements AND participate in these secular growth markets. We are also aware of the potential of investor expectations t...

Today, we note that despite a strong economy with very low unemployment, measures of consumer sentiment and overall confidence levels are lower than one might expect. Prices are still much higher than they were before the recent inflationary period because of the way that high prices get “built in” when a bout of inflation occurs and “built on” when inflation returns to a more normal/lower level....

We continually strive to improve upon our investment research process of underwriting businesses and making judgments about individual stock valuations. Our preference for companies with long histories of dividend consistency leads us to invest in higher-quality businesses, which we believe elevate our likelihood of success. Outlining our formal set of expectations around each component of investm...

We often refer to dividend increases as “the silent factor.” Why? Because dividend growth garners small attention among most investors. It can almost go unnoticed, seldom making headlines despite its importance. Most typically, dividend increases are quiet, if not silent, working their influence in relatively small measures that add up greatly over time. In this episode, we sit down with John Craw...

Today there is probably a disproportionate amount of emphasis put on classifying investments as belonging to one of two styles: Growth or Value. From our vantage point, neither of these approaches adequately captures the most durable outperformance factor in small cap investing: Quality. At our firm we have developed a rigorous investment process that puts Quality at the center of our decision-mak...

Over time, the average holding period for stocks has been shrinking. At the same time, the percentage of stocks owned by individual investors has been on the rise, and individual investors now own approximately 60% of all publicly traded equities. With an average holding period of less than six months, it seems that private investors are trading stocks rapidly in an effort to earn short-term profi...

A trifecta is an outcome where three things are achieved. This term is most typically associated with betting on horseracing, in which case the wager is to pick the first, second, and third-place finishers in a given race. Not entirely different, at Crawford we are investing to achieve an investment trifecta by selecting stocks that provide our investors with all three components of total investme...

"Before long, my small investment had tripled in value, and I began to think differently about investing. From casual observation of the steady stock price to intense following of its daily rise, I began to say to myself, “This is good!” It is not an exaggeration to say that the Stokely-Van Camp experience opened up for me not a new can of beans, but a whole new world, and from that point onw...

In recent months, we have written about Dividend Integrity and how it might be as important now as it has ever been. An important point is that not all dividend-payers possess Dividend Integrity , and some actually exhibit what we call Dividend Hubris . These are companies that pay dividends to the detriment of their corporation. Discerning between Dividend Integrity and Dividend Hubris is where t...

To build our clients’ portfolios, we start at the company level with a rigorous fundamental, bottom-up research process. But often, industry forces can be just as important as company attributes. Competition, economic cyclicality, government regulation, and seasonality can impact portfolio returns just as much as company attributes, such as quality of management, superior products, or financial co...

Over our 42-year history, we have found that the most attractive investment opportunities are available in high-quality companies that succeed in investing for sustainable financial increase, while also returning substantial capital to shareholders through a steady and growing dividend. At Crawford, we prefer to invest in companies that generate higher levels of cash flow, maintain strong balance...

It is difficult to overstate the importance of downside protection for any long-term investment program. Investing in dividend-paying stocks, especially those that maintain and raise their dividends consistently, is an excellent way to satisfy this objective. Dividends provide income, and as dividends grow, they can force the price of a stock upward while protecting capital on the downside. In fac...

Given the current environment, we believe now is a particularly good time to revisit and reemphasize our commitment to the concept of Dividend Integrity. Given all that is going on in the economy, markets, and banking sector, most agree it is a good time to focus on businesses that demonstrate an unusual amount of consistency and predictability. We believe companies that exhibit Dividend Integrity...

At Crawford Investment Counsel, our stock selection process is focused on identifying high-quality businesses with conservative financial profiles. Our bank holdings are no exception, as we view the group through a lens that screens for diversified deposit sources, cautious approach to credit risk, and proven management, among other quality characteristics. We will continue to evaluate our bank ho...

The Crawford Managed Income strategy was born in an effort to solve a personal, real-world problem. As a result, it fills a unique gap in the asset allocation landscape today. It is an objectives-based strategy that has consistently provided a yield of over 5% since its inception, while accepting lower credit risk, lower market risk, lower energy risk, and lower price risk than its benchmark, the...

Throughout 2022, the themes of Uncertainty and Pendulum Shifts were present in many of our communications. As we move forward into 2023, Watching and Waiting seems an apt description of the posture of investors and where we find ourselves today. That is, we are watching developments in the underlying economy, monitoring corporate earnings reports and commentary, and keeping a close eye on company...

When something new is established, even if it is sound, it is not often a finished product. That was certainly the case with our Dividend Growth strategy. The important thing is that it was established on strong fundamental grounds. The idea of owning dividend-paying stocks and purchasing them when they represent value is classic investment philosophy. Add in the focus on quality and the process i...