Hertz Global Stock Soars After Pershing Square Hops In Passenger Seat: What's Going On?

Hertz Global Holdings Inc HTZ shares are soaring in early trading Wednesday after Pershing Square Capital Management reported a significant stake in the company.

What Happened: Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square filed an amended 13F with the SEC on Wednesday, showing that the firm purchased 12.71 million shares of Hertz, valued at approximately $46.5 million at the time of the filing.

Hertz shares, which have been trending lower in recent years, surged on the news Wednesday morning. Despite the strong gains, the rental car company’s stock is still down about 43% over the past year.

Hertz reported fourth-quarter financial results in February that came up short of analyst estimates. The company said at the time that it was focused on “stabilizing the business” and implementing changes to “transform” the company.

“As an asset-heavy business with extensive global reach, we have the scale and expertise to lead the industry again. The foundation we built in 2024 positions us to execute our transformation in 2025, and I am confident in our ability to deliver sustainable value for our customers, employees, and shareholders,” Hertz CEO Gil West said in February.

Hertz announced this week that it will report financial results for the first quarter of 2025 after the market closes on May 12. Analysts currently expect the company to report a first-quarter loss of 96 cents per share on revenue of $2.01 billion, according to estimates from Benzinga Pro.

How To Buy HTZ Stock

By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for Hertz Global – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.

Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy “fractional shares,” which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share.

If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to “go short” a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.

HTZ Price Action: Hertz shares were up 18.1% at $4.31 at the time of publication Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro.

Photo: ricochet64/Shutterstock.