Ameris Bancorp (ABCB) Competitors

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) and Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, community ranking, media sentiment, earnings, dividends and risk.

Is EWBC or ABCB a better dividend stock?

East West Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. East West Bancorp pays out 28.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ameris Bancorp pays out 15.4% 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.

Which has more risk and volatility, EWBC or ABCB?

East West Bancorp has a beta of 1.09, indicating that its share price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 0.87, indicating that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts recommend EWBC or ABCB?

East West Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $106.46, suggesting a potential upside of 40.27%. Ameris Bancorp has a consensus price target of $73.43, suggesting a potential upside of 38.89%. Given East West Bancorp's higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe East West Bancorp is more favorable than Ameris Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
East West Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.69
Ameris Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in EWBC or ABCB?

89.5% of East West Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of East West Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.5% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media refer more to EWBC or ABCB?

In the previous week, East West Bancorp had 26 more articles in the media than Ameris Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 29 mentions for East West Bancorp and 3 mentions for Ameris Bancorp. Ameris Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 0.99 beat East West Bancorp's score of 0.58 indicating that Ameris Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
East West Bancorp	16 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ameris Bancorp	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is EWBC or ABCB more profitable?

East West Bancorp has a net margin of 25.73% compared to Ameris Bancorp's net margin of 21.46%. East West Bancorp's return on equity of 15.71% beat Ameris Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
East West Bancorp	25.73%	15.71%	1.58%
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%

Which has better earnings and valuation, EWBC or ABCB?

East West Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Ameris Bancorp. East West Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ameris Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
East West Bancorp	$2.57B	4.09	$1.17B	$8.33	9.11
Ameris Bancorp	$1.10B	3.31	$358.68M	$5.21	10.15

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer EWBC or ABCB?

East West Bancorp received 149 more outperform votes than Ameris Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 65.61% of users gave Ameris Bancorp an outperform vote while only 64.64% of users gave East West Bancorp an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
East West Bancorp	Outperform Votes 563 64.64%	Underperform Votes 308 35.36%
Ameris Bancorp	Outperform Votes 414 65.61%	Underperform Votes 217 34.39%

Summary

East West Bancorp beats Ameris Bancorp on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.