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Is Ameris Bancorp (ABCB) Stock Outpacing Its Finance Peers This Year?

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The Finance group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Ameris Bancorp (ABCB - Free Report) 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 906 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #1. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.

The Zacks Rank is a proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. Ameris Bancorp is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ABCB's full-year earnings has moved 5.4% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the latest available data, ABCB has gained about 5.1% so far this year. In comparison, Finance companies have returned an average of 0.5%. This means that Ameris Bancorp is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB - Free Report) is another Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 6.6%.

Over the past three months, Fifth Third Bancorp's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 1%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Ameris Bancorp belongs to the Banks - Southeast industry, which includes 66 individual stocks and currently sits at #21 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 4% so far this year, so ABCB is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Fifth Third Bancorp, however, belongs to the Banks - Major Regional industry. Currently, this 15-stock industry is ranked #54. The industry has moved +5.4% so far this year.

Investors interested in the Finance sector may want to keep a close eye on Ameris Bancorp and Fifth Third Bancorp as they attempt to continue their solid performance.


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