In March 2024, I wrote an article on this website titled: “This may be your last chance to buy Lloyds shares under 50p.”

I thought I identified a few key reasons why Lloyds (LSE: LLOY) share price appeared to be undervalued. I even said that a share price of 50p could be seen as a share price “apparently low” in the coming years. So what happened?

Well, Lloyds shares are currently trading at 101p. They reached their highest level in 17 years. Investors saw the counties more than double in value and also reaped some handsome dividends in the process.

Moreover, I believe that many of the same factors that were true then are true now. Put simply, a Lloyds share price of almost £1 may seem as inexpensive as one of less than 50p. Here’s why I think this stock is worth considering.

No crystal ball

First of all, I’m certainly not a modern-day Nostradamus. Like even the best investors, I sometimes mistake the ones that are exact. For balance’s sake, I’ll mention my notable loser: the alcoholic beverage producer Diageo – a decrease of almost 40% in the same period.

In a similar vein, the overall performance of global markets and FTSE100 was also sturdy during this period. If Footsie hadn’t seen years of 7% and 21% in 2024 and 2025, respectively, I doubt my predictions would have looked so prophetic.

Currently, markets are at record highs. A downturn – perhaps caused by the long-awaited and predicted “AI stock market crash” – could also undermine my previous claims. Any investor can look good by picking the highlights rather than the overall trend.

Looking to the future

So will Lloyds shares repeat this trick? No one can say for sure, but stocks are still trading at low prices, as they have been for much of the time since the Great Recession. It’s understandable that investors remain cautious after such a reckless collapse, but the days of the “ghosts of 2008” may be numbered.

Lloyds shares are trading at around 11 times futures earnings. This is significantly cheaper than its counterparts across the Atlantic and even represents a good discount to the FTSE 100 index’s long-term average of around 15. Perhaps most pertinently, earnings forecasts for the coming years are expected to lower this figure even further.

Another boon for Lloyds shares is higher interest rates. When debt is too low, banks don’t make much margin on their products. When debt is too high, the sector has to deal with more debt defaults. The current levels are something of a “gold zone” at the moment. They appear to be sinking more slowly than many expected.