Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) vs. CVB Financial (NASDAQ:CVBF) Financial Survey

CVB Financial (NASDAQ:CVBF) and Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, dividends and risk.

Volatility & Risk

CVB Financial has a beta of 0.44, meaning that its stock price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 1.01, meaning that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

74.2% of CVB Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.0% of CVB Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.5% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

CVB Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. CVB Financial pays out 55.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ameris Bancorp pays out 12.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for CVB Financial and Ameris Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CVB Financial	0	4	2	0	2.33
Ameris Bancorp	0	1	5	0	2.83

CVB Financial currently has a consensus target price of $20.80, indicating a potential downside of 12.72%. Ameris Bancorp has a consensus target price of $66.67, indicating a potential downside of 5.96%. Given Ameris Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Ameris Bancorp is more favorable than CVB Financial.

Profitability

This table compares CVB Financial and Ameris Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CVB Financial	28.29%	9.80%	1.30%
Ameris Bancorp	20.08%	9.18%	1.25%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares CVB Financial and Ameris Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CVB Financial	$665.66 million	5.00	$221.43 million	$1.43	16.66
Ameris Bancorp	$1.52 billion	3.21	$269.11 million	$4.80	14.77

Ameris Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than CVB Financial. Ameris Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CVB Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Ameris Bancorp beats CVB Financial on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CVB Financial

CVB Financial Corp. operates as a bank holding company for Citizens Business Bank, a state-chartered bank that provides banking and financial services to small to mid-sized businesses and individuals. It offers checking, savings, money market, and time certificates of deposit products for business and personal accounts; and serves as a federal tax depository for business customers. The company also provides commercial lending products comprising lines of credit and other working capital financing, accounts receivable lending, and letters of credit; agriculture loans to finance the operating needs of wholesale dairy farm operations, cattle feeders, livestock raisers, and farmers; lease financing services for municipal governments; commercial real estate and construction loans; and consumer financing products, including automobile leasing and financing, lines of credit, credit cards, home mortgages, and home equity loans and lines of credit. In addition, it offers various specialized services, such as treasury management systems for monitoring cash flow, merchant card processing program, armored pick-up and delivery, payroll services, remote deposit capture, electronic funds transfers, wires and automated clearinghouse, and online account access. Further, the company provides trust services, such as fiduciary services, mutual funds, annuities, 401(k) plans, and individual investment accounts. CVB Financial Corp. was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in Ontario, California.

About Ameris Bancorp

Ameris Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Ameris Bank that provides range of banking services to retail and commercial customers. It operates through five segments: Banking Division, Retail Mortgage Division, Warehouse Lending Division, SBA Division, and Premium Finance Division. The company offers commercial and retail checking, regular interest-bearing savings, money market, individual retirement, and certificates of deposit accounts. It also provides commercial real estate, residential real estate mortgage, agricultural, and commercial and industrial loans; consumer loans, including motor vehicle, home improvement, and home equity loans, as well as loans secured by savings accounts and personal credit lines. In addition, the company originates, administers, and services commercial insurance premium loans, equipment finance loans, and small business administration loans. It operates full service domestic banking offices, and mortgage and loan production offices. The company was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.