Cost cuts lift their earnings—and appeal

Article Excerpt

HERTZ GLOBAL HOLDINGS INC. $15 (New York symbol HTZ; Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 84.1 million; Market cap: $1.3 billion; No dividends paid; Takeover Target Rating: Medium; www.hertz.com) rents cars and trucks under the Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty banners at 10,200 locations in over 150 countries. Through its Donlen business, it also provides vehicle leasing and fleet management services. The U.S. accounts for 75% of its revenue. On July 1, 2016, the old Hertz Global Holdings Inc. set up its car rental business as a separate firm (also called Hertz Global Holdings). It then handed shares in that new company to its investors. After the spinoff, the remaining business, which rents heavy equipment, changed its name to Herc Holdings (New York symbol HRI). In the third quarter of 2018, Hertz’s revenue rose 7.2%, to $2.76 billion from $2.57 billion a year earlier. That’s mainly due to new investments in its vehicle fleets and higher travel volumes in the U.S. A successful cost-cutting plan boosted -earnings per…