Broker tips: Lloyds Banking, Miners, Kingfisher

Societe Generale (SocGen) reckons the faster than expected stabilisation of the net interest margin at part-nationalised lender Lloyds Banking has been overlooked, and sees further scope for margin improvement as the company reduces its reliance on government funding.'Looking ahead, while Lloyds currently relies on government guaranteed/assisted funding, this is an expensive source of wholesale funding for Lloyds as it has to pay a fee to the government,' the French bank notes.SocGen has reiterated its 'buy' recommendation on the stock. 'Trading on 5x earnings and 0.7x tangible book (2013e) [estimates for 2013], we believe it is undervalued for a market leader in the UK with improving earnings outlook,' SocGen said. It has a 12-month price target of 100p.Nomura Securities remains bullish on the prospects for mining shares in 2010 but for those short-term investors who like to buy on a dip, now is not a good time to dive in, the broker reckons.'In 2010, we continue to expect mining equities to benefit from a weaker US$, accelerating Chinese investment, restocking in OECD economies, the potential for large share buy-backs and M&A [mergers and acquisitions],' Nomura analyst Paul Cliff writes.The broker has preferred copper miners in 2009 and still likes them as holdings for 2010 but thinks 'copper bulls are now too abundant and recommend switching into iron ore and coking coal exposure.'Cliff is forecasting a 50% increase in iron ore contract prices over the next three years and a 75% increase in hard coking coal contract prices over the next two years. 'Although we remain bullish on long-term copper exposure, prices now appear to be running slightly ahead of improving fundamentals,' Cliff reckons.Nomura's preferred picks in the sector are Rio Tinto and Anglo American.UBS has maintained its 'buy' recommendation on Kingfisher after the DIY group issued a forecast beating quarterly update on Thursday.'Retail profit beat our forecast by c£10m, with France and International ahead, and B&Q lagging from clearance costs,' the broker said.Following the trading statement UBS has bumped up its profit before tax estimates for fiscal 09/10 by £12m to £542m and for 10/11 by £20m to £620m.The price target for Kingfisher has been lifted from 270p to 290p on a sum of the parts valuation basis. The broker said the increase in the price target 'stems largely from the net debt improvement; by January 2011, there is a fighting chance that the group will have net cash.'