Bull & Bear: E*Trade Financial Corporation (ETFC)

Shares of E*Trade Financial Corporation ETFC are currently trading lower on the session by 1.68%, at $15.83. With the recent plethora of analyst action in the name, it begs the question of where shares are headed from here. Bulls: On the analyst front, S&P recently raised ratings on many of the company's bonds and reiterated a stable outlook. Technically, the name has been on a consistent rise over the past nine months, with shares recently breaking through the 200-day moving average to the upside. E*Trade Financial Corporation has not done this is a long time. While shares did experience a hiccup in February, most stocks did, and ETFC has managed to regain all the key moving averages quickly. This should indicate that bulls are still in charge and will to push shares toward recent highs. A bullish trader might consider the following trade: buy the July 2011 $16.00 call for $1.05 and sell the July 2011 $19/15 strangle for $0.90. Net debit on the trade is only $0.15 and gets you highly leveraged to upside in the name. Bears: Bears will note that the stock recently broke down through the 50-day and 200-day moving averages and are struggling to hold above them now. If E*Trade Financial Corporation should falter here, the only real support is at $14.00, then $12.25 and $12.00. On the analyst front, E*Trade Financial Corporation recently has its price target cut by FBR and some of its ABS CDOs were downgraded by Fitch. A bearish trader would consider the following trade: buy the July 2011 $16.00 put for a net debit of $1.18. E*TRADE Financial Corporation is a financial services company, which provides online brokerage and related products and services to the individual retail investors, under the brand E*TRADE Financial. It also provides investor-focused banking products, sweep deposits and savings products, to retail investors. The company's subsidiaries include E*TRADE Bank, which is a federally chartered savings bank that provides investor-focused banking products to retail customers nationwide and deposit accounts insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; E*TRADE Capital Markets, LLC, which is a registered broker-dealer and market-maker; E*TRADE Clearing LLC, which is the clearing firm for the brokerage subsidiaries and is a wholly owned operating subsidiary of E*TRADE Bank; E*TRADE Securities LLC, which is a registered broker dealer. The company operates in two business segments: Trading and Investing, and Balance Sheet Management.