Banks were always going to recover once they'd put all their misdeeds behind them. it must be nearly impossible not to make money in the banking industry, if operating within the law and with even half assed management.

"....once they'd put all their misdeeds behind them" ...I thought they were having to make further provisions for misselling, so no guarantee that they have cleared out all the dead wood yet, imo. Nice to see 46p hold though.

Toying with 47p this afternoon.

still looking pretty good from a trend point of view.

Yes - cynic that I am though I'm afraid of the bend at the end. I can't see why it should happen just yet though...

Is 'bend at the end' a recognised trading/charting term? Make the trend your friend seems more apt atm!

"Let the trend be your friend until the nasty bend at the end" is my recollection.

Ah, thanks. No bend yet thankfully!

Barclays Capital Underweight 45.11 45.10 27.00 35.00 Retains

What do you reckon skinny? Struggling to get through 46p & hold, but doesn't look to be heading for a downward trend........yet. Not sure BarCap are right.

Harry - I'll carry on holding here and may add on a break of 50p. Admittedly, I've missed some trading opportunities on the way up, but overall, I'm more than happy with things.

UBS Neutral 46.64 46.64 46.00 50.00 Reiterates

I think I just saw 47p for a fleeting second!

12+ month high this morning @47.58p

A busy area chart wise, and a gap to fill @56p

Flippin' heck! 48p + !!!!

Looking for 10 bob this afternoon!

Broker Buys and Targets....

Date Company Name Broker Rec. Price Old target price New target price Notes

18 Dec Lloyds Banking... Deutsche Bank Buy 48.93 66.00 66.00 Retains
17 Dec Lloyds Banking... Shore Capital Buy 48.93 - - Retains
07 Dec Lloyds Banking... Citigroup Buy 48.93 50.00 50.00 Retains
30 Nov Lloyds Banking... Exane BNP Paribas Outperform 48.93 55.00 55.00 Reiterates
30 Nov Lloyds Banking... UBS Neutral 48.93 46.00 50.00 Reitera

Looks to have some way to go yet.

It's always worth keeping an eye on the earnings forecasts for your favourite companies, especially if you use forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio to gauge when to buy and sell your shares.

You never know, if City brokers have been revising their projections of late, your investments may not be as cheap -- or expensive -- as you think!

Today I'm looking at the earnings per share (EPS) forecasts for Lloyds Banking Group (LSE: LLOY.L - news) , the FTSE 100 (FTSE: ^FTSE - news) (UKX) high-street bank. All my figures are courtesy of S&P Capital IQ.

The consensus for 2012 is for earnings per share of 2p, which puts the 47p shares on a lofty forward P/E of 23.

The estimates also suggest earnings may rise to 4p per share for 2013 and then climb to 6p per share in 2014 before flattening off at that level the year after.

The data from S&P Capital IQ also indicates Lloyds Banking Group's revenues may struggle to reach the levels attained in 2011. They are expected to fall to £18.5b and remain largely unchanged for three years. Revenues could then climb to £19.1b in 2015.

All told, the forecasts aren't great, with earnings essentially predicted to go nowhere after 2014. But then again, that P/E of 23 looks like the market is hoping the forecasts may be too pessimistic.

Whether these projections make Lloyds Banking Group a buy, a hold or a sell is, of course, up to you. To put the company's multiple into perspective, the FTSE 100 at 5,967 trades on a P/E of around 11.

Further company comment is available at www.fool.co.uk.

Amazing performance & 50p looking likely before Xmas. Not sure if LLOY are part of the LIBOR scandal, but seems as though they have dodged that bullet so far.