Broker tips: Lloyds, Shell, Weir, Afren

Better-than-expected second-quarter results from Lloyds Banking Group have prompted Investec to repeat its 'buy' recommendation for the stock."The market has, (quite rightly in our view), taken disclosure of Lloyds' 'reprehensible' LIBOR manipulation and (immaterial) £0.2bn fine in its stride," said analyst Ian Gordon. "What drives the share price is the operational performance, and today's Q2 2014 results show (we think) further solid underlying progress."Canaccord Genuity recommends investors to 'buy' shares of Royal Dutch Shell after the Anglo-Dutch oil major showed "early signs of underlying potential" with its second-quarter results.Analysts Richard Griffith and Alex Brooks said: "RDS has promised enhanced financial performance and these results give an early stage indication of the group's potential when all aspects of the operations are performing."Numis Securities has kept an upbeat view of Weir after the engineering group's in-line interim results, but reiterated its 'hold' rating on the stock, saying that the current valuation is full."We continue to view Weir as a high quality business with leading market positions, excellent margins and strong cash generation but believe current valuation levels are up with events," the broker said.Confirmation by Afren that its chief executive officer and chief operating officer have been suspended is not going to be good for sentiment, according to analysts at Liberum."Will have little impact on numbers (unless this involves bunkering on an industrial scale) but clearly not good for sentiment. The market has never fully trusted Afren and, if true, this will not help." Liberum chose to keep a 'buy' rating and 246p target price for the stock.BC