NEW YORK (Thomson Financial) - Shares of car-rental companies tumbled on
heavier volume Wednesday, weighed down by disappointing earnings forecasts from
Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc. and Avis Budget Group.
Shares of Dollar Thrifty slumped 15.4% to $27.64 on volume of about 820,400.
The stock's 30-day average daily volume is about 207,300.
The company on Wednesday cut its 2007 earnings estimate to $1.75 to $1.85 a
share from a previous outlook of $2 to $2.40 a share. Management blamed
slower-than-expected revenue growth, a delay in vehicle shipments and a
write-down of obsolete software.
The outlook is below the mean earnings estimate of analysts polled by
Thomson Financial of $2.16 a share for the year.
Elsewhere, shares of Avis Budget fell 16.3% to $16.12 on volume of 2.1
million shares. The 30-day average volume is about 779,000.
In intraday trading, the stock had dropped to $16.10, the lowest price since
February 2003.
Avis said after Tuesday's closing bell it expects 2007 results to be at the
"lower end" of previous estimates. It forecasts revenue of about $6 billion.
Analysts are looking for sales of $6.03 billion for the year.
Hertz Global Holdings Inc. dropped 8.1% to $18.20.
Wanfeng Zhou
wz/jw
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