Hertz may give shareholders rewarding ride
If you have a parking spot to fill in your long-term portfolio, consider Hertz Global Holdings (NYSE: HTZ). Accounting problems have pressured the stock and may potentially delay the spinoff of its equipment business, but there’s a lot to like in Hertz.
Hertz will be restating its past three years of financial reports. That’s not great news, but it could be worse. First off, the restatement is focusing on expenses, not aggressive revenue recognition policies or anything that suggests dramatic wrongdoing. Revenue growth, which is critical, will not change.
With the car-rental industry consolidating in recent years, having fewer competitors can prop up prices and profit margins for Hertz. (Hertz has participated in the consolidation, buying Dollar Thrifty last year for $2.3 billion.) Of course, business landscapes change over time. It remains to be seen whether new ride-sharing businesses such as Uber and Lyft turn into threats for car-rental companies such as Hertz.
Hertz plans to complete the spinoff of its equipment-rental business sometime next year. The move will give the company net proceeds of $2.5 billion, which will be used to pay down debt and reward shareholders via share buybacks (which reduce share count and thereby boost earnings per share). With a forward P/E ratio near 12, Hertz is worth a closer look. (The Motley Fool owns shares of Hertz.)
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