Home BancShares (HOMB) Competitors

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

Do analysts prefer HOMB or ABCB?

Home BancShares currently has a consensus target price of $32.40, indicating a potential upside of 8.51%. Ameris Bancorp has a consensus target price of $71.43, indicating a potential upside of 5.37%. Given Home BancShares' higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Home BancShares is more favorable than Ameris Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Home BancShares	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60
Ameris Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86

Which has more volatility and risk, HOMB or ABCB?

Home BancShares has a beta of 0.79, indicating that its stock price is 21% less 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 HOMB or ABCB a better dividend stock?

Home BancShares pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Home BancShares pays out 38.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ameris Bancorp pays out 14.8% 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. Home BancShares has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years. Home BancShares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is HOMB or ABCB more profitable?

Home BancShares has a net margin of 28.44% compared to Ameris Bancorp's net margin of 21.46%. Home BancShares' return on equity of 10.49% beat Ameris Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Home BancShares	28.44%	10.49%	1.82%
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%

Does the media prefer HOMB or ABCB?

In the previous week, Home BancShares and Home BancShares both had 4 articles in the media. Ameris Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 0.72 beat Home BancShares' score of 0.39 indicating that Ameris Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Home BancShares	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Ameris Bancorp	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals and insiders believe in HOMB or ABCB?

67.3% of Home BancShares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 6.3% of Home BancShares shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.4% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, HOMB or ABCB?

Home BancShares has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Ameris Bancorp. Ameris Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Home BancShares, 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
Home BancShares	$1.01B	5.81	$402.24M	$2.10	14.22
Ameris Bancorp	$1.12B	4.16	$358.68M	$5.40	12.55

Summary

Home BancShares beats Ameris Bancorp on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.