Avis Profits Exceed Expectations But Used Car Sales Slump Amid Rising Interest Costs
• Avis sold a record number of vehicles in Q4 2022 due to oversupply and spike in interest costs, making it a bad time to sell used cars
• Avis profits beat expectations despite revenue decline; but stock plunged 23% for worst day in 4 years
• Monthly per-unit costs jumped 54% for vehicles and interest expenses rose 70% to $106
• Avis was conservative on EV fleet size due to uncertainty in rental demand compared to Hertz
• Q4 profits fell to $260M from $424M last year; revenue slipped 0.3% to $2.76B missing expectations