Rental car co Avis plunges after disappointing quarterly report

Hertz Global Holdings

19/02/2026 15:17

** Shares of rental car firm Avis Budget Group CAR.O plunge 19.2% to nine-month low of $99.65 early Thurs after Q4 results missed expectations

** CAR shares tracking steepest one-day pct fall in two years

** Parsippany, New Jersey-based firm late Weds reported qtrly rev of $2.66 bln, down from $2.7 bln a year ago, as both rev/day and rental days decreased; Wall Street had modeled rev of $2.74 bln, per LSEG data

** Adj EBITDA came in at $5 mln, well shy of consensus view of $145.8 mln

** Net loss of $856 mln reflects $518 mln impairment and other related charges on certain US EV rental car vehicles

** Shares of rival Hertz HTZ.O falling 9% to $4.82 on Thurs

** Avg rating of 8 analysts covering CAR stock is "hold"; median PT $142

** With move on the session, stock down ~33% over the past six months and off ~53% from its 1-yr intraday high of $212.81 hit in July

** In comparison, Dow Jones Transportation Avg .DJT has gained nearly 25% over the past six months

(Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)

((lance.tupper@tr.com 1-646-279-6380))