Broker snap: Investec says to buy Lloyds after first-quarter beat

Investec has reiterated its buy recommendation and 40p target price for Lloyds Banking Group following the bank's well-received first-quarter results on Tuesday morning."In the recent past, financial updates from Lloyds often sounded like a desperate plea for help - but no more," Investec said in a research note.On a combined businesses basis, underlying profits came in at £0.63bn, ahead of the broker's forecast (£0.5bn) and the consensus estimate (£0.4bn).Meanwhile, Investec also highlights that balance sheet metrics are "improved at speed" with the core tier one ratio increasing by 20 basis points during the quarter to 11% and a loan-to-deposit ratio of 130%, down from 135% at December 31st."If Antonio [Chief Executive] still needs cheering up after the 6% share price rebound of the past eight days then the underlying trends visible in today's numbers could be just the tonic," the broker said.Lloyds was trading 2.35% higher at 31.74p by 09:52.BC