Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said Ford (F) shares have been moving on hopes of significant cooperation with Volkswagen (VLKAY) following the signing of an MOU between the two automakers last June. While he believes VW and Ford have some "extremely complementary areas of weakness and strength" and he sees scope for a VW collaboration to save Ford $2B-$4B annually or more, Jonas also contends that Ford's "biggest challenges must be confronted alone." He added that a full merger or "grand alliance" is a long shot and Jonas does not expect a significant flow of capital from Ford to VW or vice versa at this stage. He maintains an Equal Weight rating on Ford shares, stating that General Motors' (GM) restructuring announcement will focus investor attention on Ford's next steps.

Check out this evening's top movers from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly. HIGHER AFTER EARNINGSImpinj (PI) up... To see the rest of the story go to thefly.com. See Story Here

Reports Q1 revenue $42.8B, consensus $40.1B. Reports Q4 adjusted EBIT $2.8B.

Notable companies reporting after the market close, with earnings consensus, include Meta Plataforms (META), consensus $4.32... IBM (IBM), consensus $1.60... ServiceNow (NOW), consensus $3.14... Lam Research (LRCX), consensus $7.30... Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), consensus $11.68... O'Reilly Automotive (ORLY), consensus $9.26... Ford Motor (F), consensus 42c... United Rentals (URI), consensus $8.32... Align Technology (ALGN), consensus $1.97... Molina Healthcare (MOH), consensus $5.59... Teradyne (TER), consensus 33c... Universa Health Services (UHS), consensus $3.16... Western Union (WU), consensus 41c.

RBC Capital raised the firm's price target on General Motors to $58 from $56 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. The company's Q1 EBIT beat was "impressive" while its management remained bullish on its EV plans for 2024, with several key launches coming in the second half of the year, the analyst tells investors in a research note. RBC adds that GM investors should expect more buybacks to come in the future.

Tuesday's total option volume of 40.6 million contracts resulted in net open interest growth of 5.36 million calls and 4.67 million puts. Tesla (TSLA), AGNC Investment Corp. (AGNC), Amazon (AMZN) and Ford (F) saw the greatest growth. Top five new positions opened include 40k Wal-Mart (WMT) May-24 59 calls, 37k AGNC Investment Corp. (AGNC) Sep-24 8 puts, 36k AGNC Investment Corp. (AGNC) Sep-24 7 puts, 28k Ford (F) 4/26 weekly 13 calls and 26k Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) May-24 20 calls.

Citi raised the firm's price target on General Motors to $96 from $95 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The analyst increased estimates post the company's Q1 beat. GM remains the analyst's top pick. The company offered encouraging Q2 outlook commentary, suggesting further upside potential to the 2024 guide, and offered a confident tone around the electric vehicle outlook, the analyst tells investors in a research note. "Quarters like this continue to support the case that the now 5+yr running pushback on the stock has grown stale," contends Citi.