Hertz Announces Q1 2026 Results, Strongest Revenue Growth in Three Years

With the launch of Oro Mobility, Hertz expands into new mobility channels and advances its platform for growth

"The transformation of Hertz continues to build sustained momentum," said Gil West, Chief Executive Officer of Hertz. "We set ambitious goals for the quarter and delivered meaningful progress across revenue, asset efficiency, and unit economics. We achieved our strongest year‑over‑year revenue growth in three years alongside profitability improvements, demonstrating that our strategy is translating into tangible results."

On the Company's recent news, West added: "The launch of Oro Mobility marks an important milestone in the expansion of the Hertz growth platform. As the mobility ecosystem evolves, there is a clear need for an operational layer that connects demand platforms with vehicles and autonomous technology at scale. Leveraging Hertz's century of expertise in complex fleet operations, Oro is purpose‑built to address that gap by delivering flexible, integrated fleet solutions for both driver‑led and autonomous models, opening a new chapter for Hertz."

Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTZ) ("Hertz," "Hertz Global," or the "Company") today reported results for its first quarter 2026.

Q1 2026 HIGHLIGHTS

• Revenue totaled $2.0 billion in the first quarter, up 11% year over year, Hertz's strongest year-over-year revenue growth in three years, driven by continued progress in its commercial strategies.
• Year-over-year Revenue per Unit (RPU) and Revenue Per Day (RPD) metrics continued improving sequentially, with RPD delivering a 5.5% increase, its most significant year-over-year improvement since 2022.
• GAAP net loss for the quarter totaled $333 million and Diluted GAAP EPS was $(1.06). Adjusted net loss was $224 million and Adjusted Diluted EPS was $(0.72), resulting in a year-over-year improvement of $105 million and an Adjusted EPS improvement of $0.35.
• Adjusted Corporate EBITDA was $(161) million, an improvement of nearly 50% year over year. This is inclusive of a negative impact of over $25 million from vehicle recalls.
• Utilization was 79% in the first quarter, a decline of 70 basis points year-over-year; excluding elevated recalls, Utilization was up 140 basis points compared to the first quarter of 2025.
• Net Depreciation per Unit per Month (Net DPU) was $312 in in the first quarter, approaching the Company's North Star target and representing a year-over-year improvement of 13%, supported by disciplined fleet rotation. The used car market was in the seasonal trough through February, but has since improved considerably.
• Hertz earned the only car rental spot on USA Today's list of Most Trusted Brands for 2026 and the highest year over year improvement of any car rental company on Business Travel News' satisfaction survey.
• The Company continues to drive improvements in customer experience to strengthen its Global Net Promoter score consistently across the business, measuring record satisfaction in Europe in the first quarter.
• Hertz ended the first quarter with approximately $837 million of liquidity and in April completed additional financing that added approximately $200 million.

PLATFORM HIGHLIGHTS

• Hertz recently launched an affiliated operating company Oro Mobility (Oro) to provide driver-led and autonomous end‑to‑end fleet management solutions to partners across emerging mobility segments.
• Hertz Car Sales continues to expand its digital retail presence through a new partnership with eBay, bringing thousands of Hertz Certified, near-new vehicles to one of the world's largest ​online ​automotive marketplaces.

Q1 Summary

Hertz's first quarter performance underscores that its transformation is driving tangible results. Through its "Back-to-Basics" strategy, the Company is delivering measurable progress in its core rental operations with a focus on disciplined fleet management, revenue optimization, and rigorous cost control, all guided by its North Star metrics of DPU sub $300, RPU over $1,500, and DOE per Transaction Day in the low $30s.

In the first quarter, the Company delivered sequential improvements through its "Buy Right, Hold Right, Sell Right" strategy with its youngest fleet in nearly a decade. Hertz achieved revenue of $2.0 billion in the first quarter, up 11% year over year and marking its strongest revenue growth in three years through continued, structural improvements to its commercial strategies. The Company drove sequential, year-over-year improvement in RPU and RPD, with RPD delivering a 5.5% increase, which was its most significant year-over-year improvement since the the travel recovery and microchip-driven spike in 2022. These results, along with the progress towards the Company's North Star DPU target and continued implementation of cost management initiatives, resulted in an Adjusted Corporate EBITDA improvement of nearly 50% year over year. Although Direct Operating Expense (DOE) per Transaction Day increased 3%, Adjusted DOE improved approximately 2% year over year when normalizing for higher RPD-related variable costs that are EBITDA accretive, higher damages costs that are recovered through revenue and are EBITDA neutral, and higher real estate costs following sale leaseback transactions executed last year. The Company also continues to make systemic improvements across every customer touchpoint to enhance its rental experience.

Recall activity was approximately 300% higher year over year and reduced Utilization by roughly 200 basis points, impacted Transaction Days by approximately 930,000, and resulted in a revenue impact of about $50 million. The total impact to Adjusted Corporate EBITDA was more than $25 million. The Company is actively managing through this by redeploying available fleet to higher‑demand markets, working with OEMs and government officials for both tactical and structural improvements, and keeping rentable fleet well utilized relative to demand through disciplined capacity planning. The underlying business performed well in the first quarter, demonstrating that this transitory headwind has not stopped structural progress.

Platform for Growth

Hertz's strategic transformation has two goals: to improve its core operations, while building a diversified, value-creating platform for growth. This platform spans four strategic areas – Rent-a-Car, Service, Fleet, and Mobility – each with unique potential to scale. The Company remains focused on developing capabilities across its platform to create new value beyond its rental car business.

In the first quarter, Hertz made critical advancements in the highest priority areas of its platform. In Rent-a-Car, Hertz launched an advanced fleet planning engine enabling greater precision and efficiency, which the Company expects will deliver positive impacts across the business. In Fleet, the evolution of Hertz Car Sales into an omnichannel retail business was bolstered by the announcement of a new partnership with eBay, putting the Company's near-new, certified inventory in front of more customers than ever before.

Oro Mobility

In Mobility, Hertz recently launched its affiliated operating company, Oro, to provide flexible, integrated fleet management solutions across a range of mobility segments. As the industry transitions from personally owned vehicles to commercially operated fleets, Oro aims to fill a critical ownership, orchestration, and operations gap. Backed by Hertz's core strengths in fleet and facility management, large-scale logistics, vehicle maintenance, and a management team with direct AV operational experience, Oro is designed to manage and serve fleets reliably, efficiently, safely, and at scale.

With the scale of a global operator and the focus of an independent entity, Oro delivers solutions for all fleets. Oro has announced Uber as a major partner across both autonomous and driver‑led operations, extending the companies' long‑standing rideshare rental partnership.

EARNINGS WEBCAST INFORMATION

Hertz Global's live webcast and conference call to discuss its first quarter 2026 results will be held on May 7, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The conference call will be broadcast live in listen-only mode on the Company's Investor Relations website at IR.Hertz.com. If you would like to access the call by phone and ask a question, please go to https://events.q4inc.com/analyst/799455480?pwd=UFsNYc6H, and you will be provided with dial in details. Investors are encouraged to dial in approximately 15 minutes prior to the call. A web replay will remain available on the website for approximately one year. The earnings release and related supplemental schedules containing the reconciliations of non-GAAP measures will be available on the Hertz website, IR.Hertz.com.

ABOUT HERTZ

Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. is one of the world's leading car rental and mobility solutions providers. Its subsidiaries, including The Hertz Corporation, and licensees operate the Hertz, Dollar, Thrifty, and Firefly vehicle rental brands, with approximately 11,000 rental locations in 160 countries around the globe. The Company also operates the Hertz Car Sales brand, which offers a range of quality, competitively priced used cars for sale online and at locations across the United States, and the Hertz 24/7 car-sharing business in Europe. For more information about Hertz, visit www.hertz.com.

UNAUDITED FINANCIAL DATA, SUPPLEMENTAL SCHEDULES, NON-GAAP MEASURES AND DEFINITIONS

In this earnings release, we include select unaudited financial data of Hertz Global, Supplemental Schedules, which are provided to present segment results, and reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to their most comparable GAAP measures. Following the Supplemental Schedules, the Company provides definitions for terminology used throughout the earnings release and the Company's rationale regarding the importance and usefulness of non-GAAP measures for investors and management.

Effective in the first quarter of 2026, the Company revised its definition of Adjusted Net Income (Loss) and Adjusted Corporate EBITDA to adjust for realized (gains) losses from financial instruments, share-based compensation expense and foreign currency (gains) losses. The update was made in an effort to better reflect management's view of ongoing operations and operational performance. The presentation of the prior period has been recast to conform to the current period presentation.

Also effective in the first quarter of 2026, the Company changed its definition of Average Rentable Vehicles and Average Vehicles to use a daily average of vehicles as opposed to a simple average of vehicles at the beginning and end of a period, which the Company believes is a better, more accurate measure of its vehicles. The presentation of the prior period has been recast to conform to the current period presentation.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain statements contained or incorporated by reference in this release, and in related comments by the Company's management, include "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are identified by words such as "believe," "expect," "project," "potential," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "estimate," "seek," "will," "may," "would," "should," "could," "forecasts," "guidance" or similar expressions, and include information concerning our liquidity, our results of operations, our business strategies, economic and industry conditions and other information. These forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions that the Company has made in light of its experience in the industry, as well as its perceptions of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors. The Company believes these judgments are reasonable, but you should understand that these forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or results, and that the Company's actual results could differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements due to a variety of important factors, both positive and negative, that may be revised or supplemented in subsequent reports, such as Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K filed or furnished to the SEC.

Important factors that could affect the Company's actual results and cause them to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements include, among other things.

• mix of program and non-program vehicles in the Company's fleet, which can lead to increased exposure to residual value risk upon disposition;
• the potential for residual values associated with non-program vehicles in the Company's fleet to decline, including suddenly or unexpectedly, or fail to follow historical seasonal patterns;
• the Company's ability to purchase adequate supplies of competitively priced vehicles at a reasonable cost in order to efficiently service rental demand, including upon any disruptions in the global supply chain;
• the Company's ability to effectively dispose of vehicles, at the times and through the channels, that maximize the Company's returns;
• the age of the Company's fleet, and its impact on vehicle carrying costs, customer service scores, as well as on the Company's ability to sell vehicles at acceptable prices and times;
• disruptions in the supply chain, including in connection with any increases in tariffs or changes in tariff policies or trade agreements;
• whether a manufacturer of the Company's program vehicle fulfills its repurchase obligations;
• the frequency or extent of manufacturer safety recalls;
• levels of travel demand, particularly business and leisure travel in the U.S. and in global markets;
• seasonality and other occurrences that disrupt rental activity during the Company's peak periods, including in critical geographies;
• the Company's ability to accurately estimate future levels of rental activity and adjust the number, location and mix of vehicles used in the Company's rental operations accordingly;
• the Company's ability to implement its business strategy or strategic transactions, including the Company's ability to implement plans to support a modern mobility ecosystem and Oro Mobility's partnership with Uber;
• the Company's ability to achieve cost savings and normalized depreciation levels, as well as revenue enhancements from its profitability initiatives and other operational programs;
• the Company's ability to adequately respond to changes in technology impacting the mobility industry;
• significant changes in the competitive environment and the effect of competition in the Company's markets on rental volume and pricing;
• the Company's reliance on third-party distribution channels and related prices, commission structures and transaction volumes;
• the Company's ability to offer services for a favorable customer experience, and to retain and develop customer loyalty and market share;
• the Company's ability to maintain its network of leases and vehicle rental concessions at airports and other key locations in the U.S. and internationally;
• the Company's ability to maintain favorable brand recognition and a coordinated branding and portfolio strategy;
• the Company's ability to attract and retain effective front-line employees, senior management and other key employees;
• the Company's ability to effectively manage its union relations and labor agreement negotiations;
• the Company's ability to manage and respond to cybersecurity threats and cyber attacks on the Company's information technology systems or those of the Company's third-party providers;
• the Company's ability, and that of the Company's key third-party partners, to prevent the misuse or theft of information the Company possesses, including as a result of cyber attacks and other security threats;
• the Company's ability to evaluate, maintain, upgrade and consolidate its information technology systems;
• the Company's ability to comply with current and future laws and regulations in the U.S. and internationally regarding data protection, data security and privacy risks;
• risks associated with operating in many different countries, including the risk of a violation or alleged violation of applicable anti-corruption or anti-bribery laws and the Company's ability to repatriate cash from non-U.S. affiliates without adverse tax consequences;
• risks relating to tax laws and those tax laws that affect the Company's ability to recapture accelerated tax depreciation and expensing, as well as any adverse determinations or rulings by tax authorities;
• the Company's ability to utilize its net operating loss carryforwards;
• the Company's exposure to uninsured liabilities relating to personal injury, death and property damage, or otherwise, including material litigation;
• the potential for adverse changes in laws, regulations, policies or other activities of governments, agencies and similar organizations, including those related to environmental matters, optional insurance products or policies, franchising and licensing matters, the ability to pass-through rental car related expenses or taxes, among others, that affect the Company's operations, the Company's costs or applicable tax rates;
• the risk of an impairment of the Company's long-lived assets, which risk could be impacted by, among other things, the timing of our fleet rotation;
• the Company's ability to recover its goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets when performing impairment analysis;
• the potential for changes in management's best estimates and assessments;
• the Company's ability to maintain an effective compliance program;
• the availability of earnings and funds from the Company's subsidiaries;
• the Company's ability to comply, and the cost and burden of complying, with corporate and social responsibility regulations or expectations of stakeholders, and otherwise advance the Company's corporate responsibility priorities;
• the availability of additional, or continued sources, of financing at acceptable rates for the Company's revenue earning vehicles and to refinance the Company's existing indebtedness, and the Company's ability to comply with the covenants in the agreements governing its indebtedness;
• the extent to which the Company's consolidated assets secure its outstanding indebtedness;
• volatility in the Company's share price, the Company's ownership structure and certain provisions of the Company's charter documents, which could, among other things, negatively affect the market price of the Company's common stock;
• the Company's ability to implement an effective business continuity plan to protect the business in exigent circumstances;
• the Company's ability to effectively maintain effective internal control over financial reporting; and
• the Company's ability to execute strategic transactions.

Additional information concerning these and other factors can be found in the Company's filings with the SEC, including its Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K.

You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements attributable to the Company, or persons acting on its behalf, are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements. All such statements speak only as of the date of this release, and, except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.