Catch up on today's top five analyst initiations with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. Shake Shack (SHAK) initiated with an Underperform at Raymond James. 2. Spotify (SPOT) initiated with an Underperform at Bernstein. 3. American Express (AXP) initiated with a Neutral at Baird. 4. StarTek (SRT) initiated with a Buy at B. Riley FBR. 5. Ford (F) initiated with a Hold at Benchmark while General Motors (GM) was initiated with a Buy. This list is just a portion of The Fly's analyst coverage. To see The Fly's full Street Research coverage, click here.

Deutsche Bank raised the firm's price target on Spotify to $400 from $340 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The company reported "very strong" Q1 results and a "very encouraging" Q2 outlook, which will lead to materially higher consensus gross margin and EBIT estimates, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says sizable gross margin beat builds conviction in Spotify achieving its investor day target of 30% gross margins on the earlier side of the fiscal 2025-2027 range.

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.

HSBC analyst Joseph Thomas raised the firm's price target on Spotify to $355 from $310 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The company's gross profit and EBIT for Q1 came in well ahead of expectations as it executes against its strategy to minimize costs, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says the guidance implies a strong step-up in margins for Q2. It is now more bullish on Spotify's ability to monetize its audiobook offering.

Loop Capital analyst Alan Gould raised the firm's price target on Spotify to $300 from $250 and keeps a Hold rating on the shares. The company's Q1 results demonstrated "impressive profit and cash flow growth", though there was a small miss on ad-supported subscriber metric, partially due to some pull forward in Q4 and an over-correction on marketing spend, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Audiobooks are also a drag on profits, but Podcasting should be profitable for the year, though it contributed a small loss to Spotify during the quarter, the firm added.

Guggenheim analyst Michael Morris raised the firm's price target on Spotify to $350 from $290 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares after the company reported Q1 results that were highlighted by the company's largest ever operating income quarter and expanding gross margin. The company's Q2 profitability guidance was "similarly strong," the analyst added in an earnings recap note.

Wells Fargo raised the firm's price target on Spotify to $400 from $310 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. A year ago, Spotify's long-term profitability was in question, the firm notes. Now, it's a question of "how good?" margins can get. Wells believes strong profit growth supports its 41-times EV/EBITDA multiple.

Wells Fargo raised the firm's price target on American Express to $265 from $250 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. The firm sees a good case for management to express greater confidence in or lean to the upper end of the EPS or revenue guide for 2024. With the macro haze fading, Wells believes investors will come away with a greater appreciation of the competitive position and moat.

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.