Cathay General Bancorp (CATY) Competitors

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) and Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, dividends, risk, valuation, profitability and institutional ownership.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, ABCB or CATY?

Ameris Bancorp has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Cathay General Bancorp. Cathay General 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
Ameris Bancorp	$1.13B	4.51	$358.68M	$5.68	13.03
Cathay General Bancorp	$1.39B	2.42	$285.98M	$4.14	11.77

Do analysts recommend ABCB or CATY?

Ameris Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $72.14, indicating a potential downside of 2.54%. Cathay General Bancorp has a consensus price target of $49.71, indicating a potential upside of 2.04%. Given Cathay General Bancorp's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Cathay General Bancorp is more favorable than Ameris Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ameris Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86
Cathay General Bancorp	1 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.14

Is ABCB or CATY a better dividend stock?

Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Cathay General Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Ameris Bancorp pays out 14.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cathay General Bancorp pays out 32.9% 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.

Is ABCB or CATY more profitable?

Ameris Bancorp has a net margin of 21.46% compared to Cathay General Bancorp's net margin of 21.44%. Cathay General Bancorp's return on equity of 10.39% beat Ameris Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%
Cathay General Bancorp	21.44%	10.39%	1.27%

Which has more risk & volatility, ABCB or CATY?

Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cathay General Bancorp has a beta of 1, meaning that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

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

91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.0% of Cathay General Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.4% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.8% of Cathay General Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media refer more to ABCB or CATY?

In the previous week, Ameris Bancorp and Ameris Bancorp both had 10 articles in the media. Ameris Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.39 beat Cathay General Bancorp's score of 0.75 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	8 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Cathay General Bancorp	5 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Ameris Bancorp beats Cathay General Bancorp on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.