Scrambled, fried or poached, egg will inevitably end up on the faces of some of the best-paid analysts in the City over the prospects of the eponymous bank.

Two brokers' recommendations yesterday amply illustrated the problem: "buy," said the highly regarded analysts at HSBC; "sell," argued the team at Credit Lyonnais Securities. Both brokers used equally emotive language: Credit Lyonnais said egg was "fundamentally flawed", while HSBC insisted it "will silence the critics".

Who to believe? Since egg made its debut on the stock market last year when Prudential sold 20%, the company has worked hard to prove that its business can work. All the headlines it grabbed in the early days after its flotation proclaimed the fact that the stock had fallen below the 160p issue price.

Yesterday, at 154.5p, that price was still elusive. Ever since flotation, the HSBC analysts had thought that egg's shares were worth 150p. Now they put the price closer to 180p, because they believe the fundamental value of egg must be rising.

"At the time of the IPO, the business had an 18-month track record, an untested strategy and was losing over £150m per annum," the HSBC analysts said. Last week, egg announced that its losses had narrowed to £37m and insisted it would break even by the year's end. This has done nothing to change the minds of the Credit Lyonnais analysts, who see the fair value for the shares at 130p.

Egg's business model is based on selling more than one product to each of its customers and on diversifying its customer base - an imminent possibility if rumours of the acquistion of Bernard Arnault's Zebank are to be believed.

But the sharply divergent views in the City reflect the fact that egg is as close as the financial services industry has a new economy stock. Even the best-paid analysts cannot agree whether this is one egg best left out or included in a basket.