Avis Budget beats profit estimates in Q4

Avis Budget Group Inc (NASDAQ: CAR) is trading down in extended hours even though it reported better-than-expected financial results for its fiscal fourth quarter.

Why is Avis Budget stock down in after-hours?

The stock is in the red perhaps because the company’s liquidity position inched down sequentially in Q4.

Avis Budget ended the quarter with over $800 million in liquidity – down from some $1.0 billion three months ago. Still, Joe Ferraro – chief executive of the car rental firm said in a press release today:

We concluded the year with record revenue in our Company’s history. We achieved this through continued demand improvement, seasonally adjusted price well above historical levels, and reducing costs.

Other possible reason why Avis Budget stock is weighed in after-hours is because its quarterly revenue came in shy of Wall Street estimates. $CAR is now down about 35% versus its 52-week high.

Notable figures in Avis Budget Q4 earnings report

• Net income printed at $260 million versus year-ago $424 million
• Per-share earnings also declined from $10.10 to $7.10
• Revenue remained about flat year-over-year to $2.76 billion
• Consensus was $4.32 a share on $2.81 billion in revenue

Avis Budget repurchased $257 million worth of its stock in the recently concluded quarter, as per the earnings report. CEO Ferraro also said on Monday:

We concluded the year with record revenue … [and] with the highest volume of rentals in our fourth quarter history.

$CAR report was in contrast with its peer Hertz Global Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: HTZ) that recently reported a $348 million loss for its Q4 and has been rolling back on planned electrification of its fleet as Invezz reported here.