For those looking to find strong Finance stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Ameris Bancorp (ABCB) one of those stocks right now? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Finance sector should help us answer this question.
Ameris Bancorp is a member of the Finance sector. This group includes 863 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #2. 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).
Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ABCB's full-year earnings has moved 4.6% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.
Our latest available data shows that ABCB has returned about 20.7% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Finance stocks have gained an average of 14.5%. As we can see, Ameris Bancorp is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
Robinhood Markets, Inc. (HOOD) is another Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 238%.
For Robinhood Markets, Inc., the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 25.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
To break things down more, Ameris Bancorp belongs to the Banks - Southeast industry, a group that includes 56 individual companies and currently sits at #39 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 0.9% so far this year, meaning that ABCB is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
Robinhood Markets, Inc., however, belongs to the Financial - Investment Bank industry. Currently, this 21-stock industry is ranked #27. The industry has moved +30.1% so far this year.
Going forward, investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to Ameris Bancorp and Robinhood Markets, Inc. as they could maintain their solid performance.
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Ameris Bancorp (ABCB): Free Stock Analysis Report Robinhood Markets, Inc. (HOOD): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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