Hertz shares plummet after weak Q1, $250 million stock offering

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Hertz shares plummet after weak Q1, $250 million stock offering

DETROIT — Shares of Hertz Global plummeted Tuesday morning after the embattled rental car company reported disappointing first-quarter earnings and a $250 million stock offering.

Hertz shares were off more than 20% during early morning trading before leveling to be off about 15% to 18% toward the end of the company’s Tuesday morning quarterly earnings call that wrapped around 10:10 a.m. ET.

Shares of the company were only off roughly 3% heading into the call, following the company’s report that came out after markets closed Monday.

Here’s how Hertz did, based on average analysts’ estimates compiled by LSEG:

Loss per share: $1.12 adjusted vs. a loss of 97 cents expectedAutomotive revenue: $1.81 billion vs. $2 billion expected

Hertz announced the at-the-market $250 million stock offering during the call to begin working on deleveraging.

“The combination of an improved earnings profile, refinancing levers and the ATM optionality gives us a number of alternatives for addressing upcoming maturities,” Hertz CFO Scott Haralson said during the quarterly call.

He said the timing, total proceeds and final number of shares offered will be determined as the process occurs.

Investors are also concerned about Hertz’s plan to offer fewer cars for rent as it deals with lower bookings and President Donald Trump’s auto tariffs that have impacted new and used vehicle prices for many models. Hertz and other companies, also are dealing with lower consumer sentiment and less U.S. tourism.

“We prioritized fleet and cost actions at the top of the list. Cost because it moves quicker. Fleet because it’s so impactful,” Hertz CEO Gil West told investors during Tuesday’s call. “So not saying we haven’t focused on revenue … but as we’re moving through revenue transformation, we’re pruning some revenue.”

Hertz’s revenue fell 13% year-over-year primarily due to the reduced fleet capacity, which was down 8% compared with the first quarter of 2024, Hertz said.

The company’s lower fleet is part of its “Back-to-Basics Roadmap” plan to turn around the company to optimize vehicle utilization and, as West put it Tuesday, create “more demand than we can satisfy” to improve profits.

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Hertz stock

During the call, Hertz outlined several key accomplishments under the plan, such as a $92 million year-over-year improvement in direct operating expenses. It also retained many previously announced objectives such as getting depreciation per unit below $300 by the second quarter and positive adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization by the third quarter of 2025.

The company also said the first quarter was a record for vehicle sales to retail customers amid a strong residual value market given the tariffs.

“While HTZ is accelerating its transition strategy and has some benefits on depreciation, we believe the risk ahead is on demand. On balance we see the result as net negative,” Barclays analyst Dan Levy said Monday in an investor note.

The stock had increased 90% this year through Monday’s close, largely thanks to Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management amassing a 19.8% stake in Hertz.

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