Berkshire Hills Bancorp (BHLB) Competitors

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

Is ABCB or BHLB more profitable?

Ameris Bancorp has a net margin of 21.46% compared to Berkshire Hills Bancorp's net margin of 15.93%. Ameris Bancorp's return on equity of 9.57% beat Berkshire Hills Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%
Berkshire Hills Bancorp	15.93%	9.45%	0.92%

Do analysts recommend ABCB or BHLB?

Ameris Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $72.14, suggesting a potential upside of 9.46%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a consensus price target of $32.75, suggesting a potential upside of 34.71%. Given Berkshire Hills Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Berkshire Hills 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
Berkshire Hills Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is ABCB or BHLB a better dividend stock?

Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Ameris Bancorp pays out 14.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Berkshire Hills Bancorp pays out 28.1% 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.

Which has more volatility and risk, ABCB or BHLB?

Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to ABCB or BHLB?

In the previous week, Ameris Bancorp had 5 more articles in the media than Berkshire Hills Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Ameris Bancorp and 10 mentions for Berkshire Hills Bancorp. Berkshire Hills Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 0.87 beat Ameris Bancorp's score of 0.67 indicating that Berkshire Hills Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ameris Bancorp	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Berkshire Hills Bancorp	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, ABCB or BHLB?

Ameris Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Berkshire Hills Bancorp. Berkshire Hills 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	$1.14B	3.98	$358.68M	$5.68	11.60
Berkshire Hills Bancorp	$696.05M	1.62	$61M	$2.56	9.50

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in ABCB or BHLB?

91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.1% of Berkshire Hills Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 5.4% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Berkshire Hills Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Ameris Bancorp beats Berkshire Hills Bancorp on 14 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.