Hertz Up 8% on Upbeat Outlook

Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (HTZ) boosted its second-quarter and full-year outlook, sending shares higher by about 8% so far today.

The car rental company expects full-year adjusted earnings of 12 cents to 15 cents per share on global sales of $6.7 billion to $7.0 billion.

Wall Street analysts currently expect Hertz to post a loss of 29 cents per share for the year, which has worsened by a penny over the past month.

The company also projected second-quarter adjusted earnings of 9 cents to 10 cents per share on revenue of $1.7 billion to $1.75 billion.

The outlook is well above the average forecast of a penny per share, which has moved up by the same margin over the past month.

“Our car rental demand in the U.S. and Europe has stabilized and we are experiencing better-than-anticipated summer peak reservation build in both markets,” said CEO Mark P. Frissora. As a consequence, the company is further expanding its existing fleet.

Hertz also said that the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies are not likely to affect financial performance “significantly” in the long-term.

HTZ, a Zacks #3 Rank ("Hold") stock, is trading on higher-than-usual volume of approximately 7.9 million, compared to the average daily volume of about 6.4 million.

Read the full analyst report on HTZ