UBS stays 'neutral' on BP despite huge beat with Q1 results

BP smashed consensus forecasts with its first-quarter results on Tuesday, though analysts at UBS said that the read-through for future years is limited for the moment.

The Swiss bank maintained a 'neutral' rating and 450p target price for the oil major.

"BP clean net income came in at $2,577m, a huge 101% above consensus but significantly helped by the deferred tax credit from the reduction in the North Sea Supplementary Charge (as we had highlighted). However, undue focus on this masks the good underlying," UBS said.

The bank has lifted its 2015 earnings per share forecast by 34% to 45 cents following the results.

However, it said that changes to 2016-2018 predictions are only "negligible" due to the absence of material new guidance regarding the core business.

The bank's 450p target price equates to a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.6 for 2016.