Critical Comparison: Old Second Bancorp (NASDAQ:OSBC) vs. Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Old Second Bancorp (NASDAQ:OSBC) and Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership and risk.

Dividends

Old Second Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Old Second Bancorp pays out 13.0% 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 Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Old Second Bancorp and Ameris Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Old Second Bancorp	0	1	3	0	2.75
Ameris Bancorp	0	1	5	0	2.83

Old Second Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $18.88, indicating a potential upside of 1.86%. Ameris Bancorp has a consensus target price of $66.67, indicating a potential downside of 4.73%. Given Old Second Bancorp’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Old Second Bancorp is more favorable than Ameris Bancorp.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Old Second Bancorp and Ameris Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Old Second Bancorp	$326.15 million	2.55	$91.73 million	$1.85	10.02
Ameris Bancorp	$1.52 billion	3.17	$269.11 million	$4.80	14.58

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Old Second Bancorp	25.02%	13.81%	1.49%
Ameris Bancorp	20.08%	9.18%	1.25%

Risk and Volatility

Old Second Bancorp has a beta of 1.06, suggesting that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 1.01, suggesting that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

67.8% of Old Second Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.8% of Old Second Bancorp 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 stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Ameris Bancorp beats Old Second Bancorp on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Old Second Bancorp

Old Second Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Old Second National Bank that provides community banking services. It offers demand, NOW, money market, savings, time deposit, individual retirement, and checking accounts, as well as certificates of deposit accounts. The company also provides commercial loans; lease financing receivables; commercial real estate loans; construction loans; residential real estate loans, such as residential first mortgage and second mortgage loans; home equity line of credit; consumer loans, including motor vehicle, home improvement, and signature loans; installment and agricultural loans; residential mortgages; and overdraft checking. In addition, it offers safe deposit services; trust and wealth management services; and money orders, cashier’s checks, foreign currency, direct deposits, discount brokerage, debit and credit cards, and other services, as well as acquires the U.S. treasury notes and bonds. Further, the company provides online and mobile banking; corporate cash management products, including remote and mobile deposits capture, investment sweep accounts, zero balance accounts, automated tax payments, automatic teller machines access, telephone banking, lockbox accounts, automated clearing house transactions, account reconciliation, controlled disbursement, detail and general information reporting, foreign and domestic wire transfers, and vault services for currency and coin; and investment, agency, and custodial services for individual, corporate, and not-for-profit clients. Old Second Bancorp, Inc. was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in Aurora, Illinois.

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.