Regional banking company Ameris Bancorp (NYSE: ABCB) announced better-than-expected revenue in Q1 CY2026, with sales up 9.6% year on year to $314.4 million. Its non-GAAP profit of $1.63 per share was 4.8% above analysts’ consensus estimates.
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Ameris Bancorp (ABCB) Q1 CY2026 Highlights:
- Net Interest Income: $244.4 million vs analyst estimates of $241.9 million (10.2% year-on-year growth, 1.1% beat)
- Net Interest Margin: 3.9% vs analyst estimates of 3.8% (7 basis point beat)
- Revenue: $314.4 million vs analyst estimates of $308.9 million (9.6% year-on-year growth, 1.8% beat)
- Efficiency Ratio: 50% vs analyst estimates of 50.4% (44.4 basis point beat)
- Adjusted EPS: $1.63 vs analyst estimates of $1.56 (4.8% beat)
- Tangible Book Value per Share: $44.79 vs analyst estimates of $45.42 (12.1% year-on-year growth, 1.4% miss)
- Market Capitalization: $5.71 billion
Commenting on the Company’s results, Palmer Proctor, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, said, “First quarter was a strong start to the year with our performance metrics continuing to outpace the broader industry. Our ROA expanded to 1.62%, our return on average tangible common equity grew to 14.75% and our margin expanded 3 basis points to 3.88% for the first quarter. The continued focus on expenses across the Company resulted in an efficiency ratio just under 50% despite some seasonal headwinds. Growth was robust with annualized revenue growth in the high single digits and annualized loan and deposit growth in the mid-single digits. We were more active in our share repurchase program, buying back almost $75 million of our common stock in the quarter or approximately 1.4% of our outstanding equity. Overall, another solid quarter from Ameris with our focus remaining on profitably growing our franchise across our attractive Southeast markets.”
Company Overview
Tracing its roots back to 1971 and expanding significantly through both organic growth and strategic acquisitions, Ameris Bancorp (NYSE: ABCB) is a financial holding company that provides a full range of banking services to retail and commercial customers across select markets in the southeastern United States.
Sales Growth
From lending activities to service fees, most banks build their revenue model around two income sources. Interest rate spreads between loans and deposits create the first stream, with the second coming from charges on everything from basic bank accounts to complex investment banking transactions. Unfortunately, Ameris Bancorp’s 1.1% annualized revenue growth over the last five years was weak. This fell short of our benchmarks and is a tough starting point for our analysis.
Long-term growth is the most important, but within financials, a half-decade historical view may miss recent interest rate changes and market returns. Ameris Bancorp’s annualized revenue growth of 7.1% over the last two years is above its five-year trend, which is encouraging. 
Note: Quarters not shown were determined to be outliers, impacted by outsized investment gains/losses that are not indicative of the recurring fundamentals of the business.
This quarter, Ameris Bancorp reported year-on-year revenue growth of 9.6%, and its $314.4 million of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 1.8%.
Net interest income made up 74.9% of the company’s total revenue during the last five years, meaning lending operations are Ameris Bancorp’s largest source of revenue.
Net interest income commands greater market attention due to its reliability and consistency, whereas non-interest income is often seen as lower-quality revenue that lacks the same dependable characteristics.
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Tangible Book Value Per Share (TBVPS)
Banks are balance sheet-driven businesses because they generate earnings primarily through borrowing and lending. They’re also valued based on their balance sheet strength and ability to compound book value (another name for shareholders’ equity) over time.
When analyzing banks, tangible book value per share (TBVPS) takes precedence over many other metrics. This measure isolates genuine per-share value by removing intangible assets of debatable liquidation worth. Other (and more commonly known) per-share metrics like EPS can sometimes be murky due to M&A or accounting rules allowing for loan losses to be spread out.
Ameris Bancorp’s TBVPS grew at an incredible 12% annual clip over the last five years. TBVPS growth has also accelerated recently, growing by 13.7% annually over the last two years from $34.64 to $44.79 per share.
Over the next 12 months, Consensus estimates call for Ameris Bancorp’s TBVPS to grow by 13.7% to $50.93, decent growth rate.
Key Takeaways from Ameris Bancorp’s Q1 Results
It was encouraging to see Ameris Bancorp beat analysts’ revenue expectations this quarter. We were also happy its net interest income narrowly outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. EPS beat as well. On the other hand, its tangible book value per share slightly missed. Zooming out, we still think this was a decent quarter. The stock remained flat at $84.64 immediately after reporting.
Is Ameris Bancorp an attractive investment opportunity at the current price? When making that decision, it’s important to consider its valuation, business qualities, as well as what has happened in the latest quarter. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).
