Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LSE:LLOY) reports final results on Thursday 20 February, with the lender's shares up over 50% in the past 12months to almost a six-year high.
However, they have been lagging in analyst affections in recent months, with the cloud of a large potential hit from motor finance commission looming - though some have hopes that things will not be as bad as expected.
But these results should be interesting, UBS analysts said recently, in terms of what Lloyds says about motor provisions, a tailwind from the interest rate hedge, and potential share buybacks.
Citi analysts, however, predicted that Lloyds will be the only bank not to beat expectations for the fourth quarter of 2024.
With the black-horse bank cutting costs, including from ever more branch closures, analysts at RBC calculate that movements in the residential mortgage market at the end of last year were favourable to the UK banks, especially Lloyds, the market leader.