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Is Ameris Bancorp (ABCB) Outperforming Other Finance Stocks 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 860 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #1. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.

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).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ABCB's full-year earnings has moved 4.9% higher within the past quarter. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the most recent data, ABCB has returned 16.2% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Finance sector has returned an average of 16.1% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Ameris Bancorp is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

One other Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM - Free Report) . The stock is up 29.5% year-to-date.

In JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 2.4% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Ameris Bancorp belongs to the Banks - Southeast industry, a group that includes 55 individual companies and currently sits at #22 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 15.7% so far this year, so ABCB is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. however, belongs to the Banks - Major Regional industry. Currently, this 15-stock industry is ranked #32. The industry has moved +22.9% so far this year.

Going forward, investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to Ameris Bancorp and JPMorgan Chase & Co. as they could maintain their solid performance.


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