Shares of Avis Budget Group Inc.
CAR,
rose more than 3% in the after-hours session Monday after the car-rental company’s quarterly profit topped Wall Street expectations on strong demand for rentals amid “robust” summer travel. Avis earned $436 million, or $11.01 a share, in the second quarter, down from $774 million, or $15.71 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue fell 4% to $3.1 billion, the company said. Analysts polled by FactSet expected the company to report EPS of $9.45 on sales of $3.2 billion. Avis ended the quarter with about $1.1 billion in liquidity, and an additional $1.1 billion of fleet funding capacity, it said. “We have well-laddered corporate debt, and after giving effect to our euro note repayment in September 2023, will have no meaningful maturities until mid-2025,” Avis said. “Our strong second-quarter results continued to showcase the earnings power of our company. These results reflect the hard work of our team and their exceptional ability to capitalize on a strong and increasing travel demand environment,” Chief Executive Joe Ferraro said in a statement. “Summer travel has continued to be robust with elevated peak period demand and seasonally improved pricing.”
