Avis Budget stock climbs after big earnings beat

Shares of Avis Budget Group Inc. were up more than 4% in after-hours trading Monday after the company easily topped profit expectations for its latest quarter. The rental-car company posted net income of $774 million, or $15.71 a share, compared with $398 million, or $5.63 a share, in the year-earlier period. On an adjusted basis, Avis earned $15.94 a share, up from $5.90 a share a year before and above the FactSet consensus, which was for $11.48 a share. Revenue climbed to $3.24 billion from $2.37 billion, while analysts were anticipating $3.17 billion. Avis executives said in a release that the latest revenue total marked record performance on the metric. Chief Executive Joe Ferraro said that the company's "enhanced revenue generation, diligent fleet management and stringent cost control" helped drive the results. Shares of Avis have lost 32% over the past three months, though they're up 119% in a 12-month span. The S&P 500 has dropped 0.3% over three months and 6.3% over 12 months.

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