Preferred Bank (PFBC) Competitors

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) and Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, dividends, profitability and community ranking.

Is ABCB or PFBC a better dividend stock?

Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Preferred Bank pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Ameris Bancorp pays out 15.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Preferred Bank pays out 31.2% 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.

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

91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.8% of Preferred Bank shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.5% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, ABCB or PFBC?

Ameris Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Preferred Bank. Preferred Bank 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
Ameris Bancorp	$1.10B	3.26	$358.68M	$5.21	9.99
Preferred Bank	$283.96M	3.93	$130.66M	$9.63	8.04

Which has more volatility and risk, ABCB or PFBC?

Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Preferred Bank has a beta of 0.71, suggesting that its share price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in ABCB or PFBC?

Ameris Bancorp received 83 more outperform votes than Preferred Bank when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 66.33% of users gave Preferred Bank an outperform vote while only 65.50% of users gave Ameris Bancorp an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Ameris Bancorp	Outperform Votes 412 65.50%	Underperform Votes 217 34.50%
Preferred Bank	Outperform Votes 329 66.33%	Underperform Votes 167 33.67%

Is ABCB or PFBC more profitable?

Preferred Bank has a net margin of 25.00% compared to Ameris Bancorp's net margin of 21.46%. Preferred Bank's return on equity of 17.80% beat Ameris Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%
Preferred Bank	25.00%	17.80%	1.91%

Do analysts recommend ABCB or PFBC?

Ameris Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $70.50, suggesting a potential upside of 35.48%. Preferred Bank has a consensus target price of $104.00, suggesting a potential upside of 34.31%. Given Ameris Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Ameris Bancorp is more favorable than Preferred Bank.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ameris Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.83
Preferred Bank	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Does the media prefer ABCB or PFBC?

In the previous week, Ameris Bancorp had 7 more articles in the media than Preferred Bank. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for Ameris Bancorp and 7 mentions for Preferred Bank. Ameris Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.39 beat Preferred Bank's score of 1.27 indicating that Ameris Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ameris Bancorp	11 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Preferred Bank	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Ameris Bancorp beats Preferred Bank on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.