SmartFinancial (SMBK) Competitors

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

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in ABCB or SMBK?

91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.8% of SmartFinancial shares are held by institutional investors. 5.4% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.6% of SmartFinancial shares are held 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 ABCB or SMBK more profitable?

Ameris Bancorp has a net margin of 21.46% compared to SmartFinancial's net margin of 12.67%. Ameris Bancorp's return on equity of 9.57% beat SmartFinancial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%
SmartFinancial	12.67%	7.33%	0.71%

Is ABCB or SMBK a better dividend stock?

Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. SmartFinancial pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Ameris Bancorp pays out 14.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SmartFinancial pays out 14.2% 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. SmartFinancial has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Do analysts rate ABCB or SMBK?

Ameris Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $71.43, indicating a potential upside of 6.13%. SmartFinancial has a consensus price target of $33.70, indicating a potential downside of 5.18%. Given Ameris Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Ameris Bancorp is more favorable than SmartFinancial.

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
SmartFinancial	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Does the media prefer ABCB or SMBK?

In the previous week, Ameris Bancorp had 2 more articles in the media than SmartFinancial. MarketBeat recorded 2 mentions for Ameris Bancorp and 0 mentions for SmartFinancial. Ameris Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 0.53 beat SmartFinancial's score of 0.00 indicating that Ameris Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Ameris Bancorp	Positive
SmartFinancial	Neutral

Which has more volatility and risk, ABCB or SMBK?

Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 0.93, suggesting that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SmartFinancial has a beta of 0.7, suggesting that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has better valuation & earnings, ABCB or SMBK?

Ameris Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than SmartFinancial. Ameris Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SmartFinancial, 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	$1.12B	4.13	$358.68M	$5.40	12.46
SmartFinancial	$178.24M	3.39	$36.14M	$2.26	15.73

Summary

Ameris Bancorp beats SmartFinancial on 15 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.