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 businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, earnings and profitability.

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 1.1%. Home BancShares pays out 36.5% 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. 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.

Which has more risk and volatility, HOMB or ABCB?

Home BancShares has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer HOMB or ABCB?

Home BancShares presently has a consensus target price of $33.00, suggesting a potential upside of 10.53%. Ameris Bancorp has a consensus target price of $72.14, suggesting a potential downside of 3.32%. Given Home BancShares' higher possible upside, analysts clearly 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)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
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 HOMB or ABCB?

In the previous week, Home BancShares had 4 more articles in the media than Ameris Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for Home BancShares and 7 mentions for Ameris Bancorp. Ameris Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.52 beat Home BancShares' score of 1.16 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	4 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ameris Bancorp	6 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 higher valuation & earnings, 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	$1.03B	5.70	$402.24M	$2.19	13.63
Ameris Bancorp	$1.13B	4.55	$358.68M	$5.68	13.14

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership 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 insiders. Comparatively, 5.4% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is HOMB or ABCB more profitable?

Home BancShares has a net margin of 29.58% compared to Ameris Bancorp's net margin of 21.46%. Home BancShares' return on equity of 10.60% beat Ameris Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Home BancShares	29.58%	10.60%	1.87%
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%

Summary

Home BancShares beats Ameris Bancorp on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.