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

Investors interested in Finance stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Ameris Bancorp (ABCB) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Ameris Bancorp is a member of the Finance sector. This group includes 885 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #3. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.

The Zacks Rank emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the 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 3.8% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that ABCB has returned about 0.4% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Finance companies have returned an average of -8%. As we can see, Ameris Bancorp is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another Finance stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is FS KKR Capital (FSK). The stock has returned 6.5% year-to-date.

For FS KKR Capital, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 5.8% 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 64 individual companies and currently sits at #28 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 1.3% so far this year, meaning that ABCB is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

FS KKR Capital, however, belongs to the Financial - SBIC & Commercial Industry industry. Currently, this 37-stock industry is ranked #22. The industry has moved 0% so far this year.

Ameris Bancorp and FS KKR Capital could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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