Based on the aggregated intelligence of 135,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, partly nationalized British bank Lloyds Banking Group
With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Lloyds' business, and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.
Lloyds facts
Headquarters (founded) |
London, U.K. (1985) |
Market Cap |
$43.5 billion |
Industry |
Diversified banks |
TTM Revenue |
$8.4 billion |
Management |
CEO J. Eric Daniels (since 2003) |
Return on Equity (average, last three years) |
27.7% |
Competitors |
Barclays |
CAPS members bullish on LYG also bullish on |
Bank of America |
CAPS members bearish on LYG also bearish on |
Citigroup |
Sources: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's, and Motley Fool CAPS. TTM = trailing 12 months.
Over on CAPS, fully 741 of the 793 members who have rated Lloyds -- some 93% -- believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include RickiPicki and All-Star Teacherman1, who is ranked in the top 10% of our community.
Just last week, RickiPicki tapped Lloyds as a U.K. way to play a common refrain: "Another beaten down financial that is undervalued and has excellent long term earnings potential. It's too big to fail and should provide some nice profit with some [patience]."
In a pitch from last month, Teacherman1 expands on that reasoning. Here's an excerpt:
Prior to taking over HBOS (Horrible Bank of Scotland) last year, they were a very profitable, fairly conservative bank; controlling the "Lions Share" of the UK market. The UK Govt. now owns roughly 43% of the common stock, and has an interest in seeing the share value rise so that they are able to sell it in the open market and recover their "investment." …
A couple of things which could potentially "upset the apple cart", are the UK unions which are complaining about the job cuts at HBOS (shades of the auto industry), the EU regulators, and a change in the British Govt. In my personal opinion, it is a great opportunity to make a big long term profit from a situation which will not last forever. It will, however, require patience and the ability not to get "spooked" by rumors and market fluctuations.
What do you think about Lloyds, or any other stock for that matter? Make your voice heard on Motley Fool CAPS today. More than 135,000 investors are waiting to hear what you have to say. CAPS is 100% free, so simply click here to get started.