Preferred Bank (PFBC) Competitors

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

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of PFBC or ABCB?

72.8% of Preferred Bank shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.4% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more volatility and risk, PFBC or ABCB?

Preferred Bank has a beta of 0.75, indicating that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 0.96, indicating that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor PFBC or ABCB?

In the previous week, Ameris Bancorp had 12 more articles in the media than Preferred Bank. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Ameris Bancorp and 3 mentions for Preferred Bank. Preferred Bank's average media sentiment score of 1.17 beat Ameris Bancorp's score of 0.67 indicating that Preferred Bank is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Preferred Bank	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ameris Bancorp	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts recommend PFBC or ABCB?

Preferred Bank currently has a consensus price target of $103.67, indicating a potential upside of 16.39%. Ameris Bancorp has a consensus price target of $72.14, indicating a potential upside of 9.46%. Given Preferred Bank's higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Preferred Bank is more favorable than Ameris Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Preferred Bank	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
Ameris Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86

Which has better valuation and earnings, PFBC or ABCB?

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
Preferred Bank	$522.66M	2.46	$130.66M	$9.46	9.42
Ameris Bancorp	$1.14B	3.98	$358.68M	$5.68	11.60

Is PFBC or ABCB a better dividend stock?

Preferred Bank pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Preferred Bank pays out 31.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ameris Bancorp pays out 14.1% 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. Preferred Bank has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Preferred Bank is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is PFBC or ABCB more profitable?

Preferred Bank has a net margin of 25.04% compared to Ameris Bancorp's net margin of 21.46%. Preferred Bank's return on equity of 16.64% beat Ameris Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Preferred Bank	25.04%	16.64%	1.80%
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%

Summary

Ameris Bancorp beats Preferred Bank on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.