Investors interested in Finance stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Ameris Bancorp (ABCB) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
Ameris Bancorp is one of 869 individual stocks in the Finance sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #1 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.
The Zacks Rank is a successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. Ameris Bancorp is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ABCB's full-year earnings has moved 6.4% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.
Based on the most recent data, ABCB has returned 16.1% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Finance group have gained about 12.1% on average. This means that Ameris Bancorp is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.
One other Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is First Bancorp (FBP). The stock is up 18.3% year-to-date.
For First Bancorp, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 1.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Ameris Bancorp belongs to the Banks - Southeast industry, a group that includes 54 individual stocks and currently sits at #11 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 6.1% so far this year, meaning that ABCB is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns. First Bancorp is also part of the same industry.
Ameris Bancorp and First Bancorp could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.
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Ameris Bancorp (ABCB): Free Stock Analysis Report First BanCorp. (FBP): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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