What happened
Avis Budget Group (CAR -6.65%) took its shareholders for a pleasant ride on Tuesday. Following the release of the auto rental giant's first-quarter results, the stock traded as much as 10% higher before settling down to a nearly 2% gain on the day. That handily beat the 0.5% gain of the S&P 500 index.
So what
For the quarter, Avis earned just over $2.4 billion in revenue, which was 77% higher than the corresponding period of 2021. It was also several miles past the average analyst estimate of $2.1 billion.
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The company also did a traffic-light flip from red to green on the bottom line. It booked an adjusted net profit of $544 million, or $9.99 per share, from the year-ago loss of $32 million. Those analysts were expecting such a flip, but not to this degree -- they were only modeling $3.45 in adjusted net profit per share.
Although the coronavirus was still somewhat of a concern for would-be auto renters, the public is clearly eager to get back on the road.
"Despite the impact of Omicron on the first half of the quarter, our team was able to quickly pivot to manage the significantly increasing demand during the back half of the quarter," Avis quoted CEO Joe Ferraro as saying.
Now what
Avis did not proffer any guidance, which might have put a damper on the stock's post-earnings rally. Regardless, this was unquestionably a fine quarter for the recovering company, which now has solid momentum heading into the crucial summer tourism season.
