Deluxe (DLX) Competitors

Deluxe (NYSE:DLX) and Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) are related companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, profitability, earnings, dividends and risk.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of DLX or ABCB?

93.9% of Deluxe shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.6% of Deluxe shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.4% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is DLX or ABCB a better dividend stock?

Deluxe pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.4%. Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Deluxe pays out 96.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Ameris Bancorp pays out 14.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Does the media favor DLX or ABCB?

In the previous week, Ameris Bancorp had 8 more articles in the media than Deluxe. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for Ameris Bancorp and 3 mentions for Deluxe. Ameris Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.28 beat Deluxe's score of 0.55 indicating that Ameris Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Deluxe	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ameris Bancorp	8 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk & volatility, DLX or ABCB?

Deluxe has a beta of 1.53, indicating that its stock price is 53% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 0.93, indicating that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is DLX or ABCB more profitable?

Ameris Bancorp has a net margin of 21.46% compared to Deluxe's net margin of 2.64%. Deluxe's return on equity of 21.20% beat Ameris Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Deluxe	2.64%	21.20%	4.91%
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%

Which has higher valuation and earnings, DLX or ABCB?

Ameris Bancorp has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Deluxe. Ameris Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Deluxe, 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
Deluxe	$2.12B	0.34	$52.80M	$1.25	13.05
Ameris Bancorp	$1.12B	4.13	$358.68M	$5.40	12.47

Do analysts prefer DLX or ABCB?

Deluxe currently has a consensus target price of $23.00, suggesting a potential upside of 41.02%. Ameris Bancorp has a consensus target price of $71.43, suggesting a potential upside of 6.07%. Given Deluxe's higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Deluxe is more favorable than Ameris Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Deluxe	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Ameris Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86

Summary

Deluxe and Ameris Bancorp tied by winning 9 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.