ASB vs. ABCB, UCBI, SFBS, FBP, IBOC, TCBI, FIBK, CATY, AUB, and COLB
Should you be buying Associated Banc stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Associated Banc include Ameris Bancorp (ABCB), United Community Banks (UCBI), ServisFirst Bancshares (SFBS), First BanCorp. (FBP), International Bancshares (IBOC), Texas Capital Bancshares (TCBI), First Interstate BancSystem (FIBK), Cathay General Bancorp (CATY), Atlantic Union Bankshares (AUB), and Columbia Banking System (COLB).
Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) and Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, risk, community ranking, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.
Ameris Bancorp has a net margin of 18.06% compared to Associated Banc's net margin of 6.86%. Ameris Bancorp's return on equity of 8.71% beat Associated Banc's return on equity.
Ameris Bancorp received 163 more outperform votes than Associated Banc when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.64% of users gave Ameris Bancorp an outperform vote while only 50.85% of users gave Associated Banc an outperform vote.
83.0% of Associated Banc shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of Associated Banc shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Ameris Bancorp has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Associated Banc. Ameris Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Associated Banc, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
In the previous week, Associated Banc had 11 more articles in the media than Ameris Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 20 mentions for Associated Banc and 9 mentions for Ameris Bancorp. Ameris Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 0.78 beat Associated Banc's score of 0.38 indicating that Ameris Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Associated Banc currently has a consensus target price of $23.13, suggesting a potential upside of 7.21%. Ameris Bancorp has a consensus target price of $50.25, suggesting a potential upside of 4.95%. Given Associated Banc's higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Associated Banc is more favorable than Ameris Bancorp.
Associated Banc pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Associated Banc pays out 88.9% 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 14.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.
Associated Banc has a beta of 1, indicating that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Ameris Bancorp beats Associated Banc on 15 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding ASB and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartThis chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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