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Are Finance Stocks Lagging Ameris Bancorp (ABCB) This Year?

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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 - 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 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 - 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 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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