Crane Co. CR currently boasts robust growth prospects on strength in its businesses, solid product portfolio, acquired assets and a sound capital-deployment strategy.Notably, the Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company has a market capitalization of $5.3 billion. In the past six months, the stock has gained 19.5% compared with the industry’s growth of 12.5%.Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchLet’s delve into the factors that make investment in the company a smart choice at the moment.Business Strength: Crane has been experiencing strong order trends across several of its businesses, including engineered materials, nuclear service, core process and commercial fluid handling. Also, the company expects robust growth prospects in end markets like chemical, pharmaceutical and general industrial, driven by improvement in order rates and strong pipeline of new product development programs. For 2021, the company predicts sales of $3,185 million, implying year-over-year growth of 4-6% organically.Acquired Asset Benefits: The company is focused on strengthening business through acquisitions. In 2020, its investment in buyouts (net of acquired cash) totaled $169.5 million. Notably, in January 2020, Crane completed the acquisition of CIRCOR International’s Instrumentation & Sampling business, which has been adding value to Crane’s process valve business. Acquired assets boosted the company’s sales by 6.8% and 1% year over year in 2020 and first-quarter 2021, respectively.Rewards to Shareholders: It remains committed to rewarding shareholders through share repurchases and dividend payouts. In 2020, the company repurchased shares worth $70 million and paid out dividends worth $100.4 million. Also, in first-quarter 2021, it paid out dividends worth $25 million to shareholders. In January 2020, it announced a 10% hike in its quarterly dividend rate.Estimate Revisions: In the past 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its 2021 earnings has trended up from $5.13 to $5.78 on two upward estimate revisions against none downward.Other Key PicksSome other top-ranked stocks from the same space are Griffon Corporation GFF, ITT Inc. ITT and Macquarie Infrastructure Company MIC, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.Griffon delivered an earnings surprise of 50.00% in the last reported quarter.ITT delivered an earnings surprise of 21.84% in the last reported quarter.Macquarie delivered an earnings surprise of 25.00% in the last reported quarter.Bitcoin, Like the Internet Itself, Could Change EverythingBlockchain and cryptocurrency has sparked one of the most exciting discussion topics of a generation. Some call it the “Internet of Money” and predict it could change the way money works forever. If true, it could do to banks what Netflix did to Blockbuster and Amazon did to Sears. Experts agree we’re still in the early stages of this technology, and as it grows, it will create several investing opportunities.Zacks’ has just revealed 3 companies that can help investors capitalize on the explosive profit potential of Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies with significantly less volatility than buying them directly.See 3 crypto-related stocks now >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report ITT Inc. (ITT): Free Stock Analysis Report Macquarie Infrastructure Company (MIC): Free Stock Analysis Report Crane Co. (CR): Free Stock Analysis Report Griffon Corporation (GFF): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research