Live Oak Bancshares (LOB) Competitors

Live Oak Bancshares (NASDAQ:LOB) and Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, risk, earnings, profitability, media sentiment and institutional ownership.

Is LOB or ABCB a better dividend stock?

Live Oak Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Live Oak Bancshares pays out 9.2% 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.

Which has more volatility and risk, LOB or ABCB?

Live Oak Bancshares has a beta of 1.84, indicating that its stock price is 84% 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.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in LOB or ABCB?

64.0% of Live Oak Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 23.4% of Live Oak Bancshares shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.4% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is LOB or ABCB more profitable?

Ameris Bancorp has a net margin of 21.46% compared to Live Oak Bancshares' net margin of 7.10%. Ameris Bancorp's return on equity of 9.57% beat Live Oak Bancshares' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Live Oak Bancshares	7.10%	6.88%	0.55%
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%

Which has better earnings & valuation, LOB or ABCB?

Ameris Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Live Oak Bancshares. Ameris Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Live Oak 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
Live Oak Bancshares	$498.34M	2.94	$77.47M	$1.30	24.74
Ameris Bancorp	$1.12B	4.13	$358.68M	$5.40	12.48

Do analysts recommend LOB or ABCB?

Live Oak Bancshares presently has a consensus target price of $42.00, suggesting a potential upside of 30.56%. Ameris Bancorp has a consensus target price of $71.43, suggesting a potential upside of 6.03%. Given Live Oak Bancshares' higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Live Oak Bancshares is more favorable than Ameris Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Live Oak Bancshares	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

Does the media refer more to LOB or ABCB?

In the previous week, Ameris Bancorp had 5 more articles in the media than Live Oak Bancshares. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Ameris Bancorp and 5 mentions for Live Oak Bancshares. Ameris Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.13 beat Live Oak Bancshares' score of 0.26 indicating that Ameris Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Live Oak Bancshares	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Ameris Bancorp	7 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Ameris Bancorp beats Live Oak Bancshares on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.