SouthState (SSB) Competitors

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

Do analysts prefer SSB or ABCB?

SouthState currently has a consensus target price of $115.27, suggesting a potential upside of 14.66%. Ameris Bancorp has a consensus target price of $72.14, suggesting a potential upside of 0.09%. Given SouthState's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe SouthState is more favorable than Ameris Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SouthState	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.09
Ameris Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86

Is SSB or ABCB a better dividend stock?

SouthState pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. SouthState pays out 35.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ameris Bancorp pays out 14.1% 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. SouthState has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years. SouthState is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do institutionals & insiders believe in SSB or ABCB?

89.8% of SouthState shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of SouthState shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.4% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is SSB or ABCB more profitable?

SouthState has a net margin of 22.38% compared to Ameris Bancorp's net margin of 21.46%. SouthState's return on equity of 9.62% beat Ameris Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SouthState	22.38%	9.62%	1.21%
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%

Does the media prefer SSB or ABCB?

In the previous week, SouthState and SouthState both had 13 articles in the media. Ameris Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.59 beat SouthState's score of 1.35 indicating that Ameris Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
SouthState	11 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ameris Bancorp	12 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, SSB or ABCB?

SouthState has higher revenue and earnings than Ameris Bancorp. Ameris Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SouthState, 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
SouthState	$2.12B	4.80	$534.78M	$6.71	14.98
Ameris Bancorp	$1.13B	4.39	$358.68M	$5.68	12.69

Which has more volatility & risk, SSB or ABCB?

SouthState 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 0.96, indicating that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

SouthState beats Ameris Bancorp on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.