Lloyds Share News (LLOY)

Investec has reiterated its 'buy' ratings for all five major UK banks, saying that while the first-half results season will be 'unexciting', lenders are unlikely to provide a negative surprise.The broker labels Barclays (target price of 240p) as a "key value play" and its top pick in the sector. Meanwhile, Standard Chartered (1,800p target) remains the broker's choice of the 'UK Asians' and is the only bank expected to report a (small) beat against consensus estimates.As for the others, Gordon said: "Lloyds (40p target) is our preferred restructuring play while RBS (300p target) appears increasingly speculative. HSBC (600p target) offers relatively limited upside, and is our 'least preferred' UK bank notwithstanding recent weakness related to its anti-money laundering procedures."While Carpetright's first-quarter results were 'in line' with forecasts, Merchant Securities has reiterated its 'sell' recommendation for the stock, saying that it is 'fundamentally overvalued'.Analyst Amisha Chohan said: "The business operates in a highly cyclical environment. We do not expect to see dramatic improvements in UK housing transactions, which traditionally represented 25% of the group turnover."Nomura has maintained its 'buy' recommendation and 781p target price for Turkmenistan-focused oil and gas group Dragon Oil despite the firm lowering its production guidance for 2012."Our belief at this juncture is that this is a temporary 'blip' in an unchanged upwards trend, and something that can be rectified by ongoing remedial work," the broker said."Our 'buy' rating is predicated on a $4bn cash pile end-2015, disciplined M&A, and the potential for cash distribution in the absence of this. Dragon Oil's shares trade at 72% relative to our 781p risked net asset value (NAV)based on $95 oil."BC