Hertz executives during a Thursday morning earnings call touted a stronger foundation for the business, despite several headwinds during the fourth quarter that negatively affected the company's performance.
"From the government shutdown, coupled with [Federal Aviation Administration] cancellations, multiple technology vendor outages and an unfavorable residual value environment to elevated recall volumes, taken together these created outsized pressure of well over $100 million on our business and kept us from hitting some of our targets," Hertz CEO Gil West said during the call. "But even within that environment, we made progress."
West noted improvement in revenue. While negative in the fourth quarter year over year, Hertz full-year revenue was "nearly flat, with a 3 percent smaller fleet," despite being down 13 percent in the first quarter, West said. That was a "significant accomplishment," he said.
Vehicle recall volumes peaked in mid-November and December, taking more than 20,000 cars out of service, West said, about three times higher than the normal rate. "This resulted in us having to carry more fleet than planned and limited our performance, which had ripple effects across the business."
Still, West cited "a healthier fleet, improved unit economics, a more disciplined operating model and a better customer experience" as providing a "meaningfully stronger foundation" for the company than where it was a year ago.
"The improvements we are seeing in the business are structural, they're permanent," he said. "The headwinds we faced and continue to navigate are transitory. That difference matters, and it is what gives me confidence in the trajectory ahead. That confidence is already being validated as 2026 is off to a good start. Quarter-one trends in both revenue and [revenue per day] are positive year over year."
"Corporate business is gaining ground," said Hertz chief commercial officer Sandeep Dube, in what was the only mention of the business travel segment during the company's call.
Hertz Q4, Full-Year 2025 Metrics
Hertz reported fourth-quarter revenue of $2 billion, down 1 percent year over year. The quarterly net loss was $194 million, compared with a net loss of $479 million a year prior. The average rentable vehicles remained steady at about 498,000 for the period. Transaction days (35.8 million) and total revenue per day ($55.67) decreased about 1 percent compared with Q4 2024.
For the full year, total revenue was $8.5 billion, down from the $9 billion reported in 2024. The full-year net loss was $747 million compared with a loss of nearly $2.9 billion a year prior.
The Americas segment in the fourth quarter reported revenue of $1.6 billion, down 3 percent year over year. The average rentable vehicles declined slightly to 398,000 from 400,000. Transaction days (28.9 million) were down 2 percent compared with a year prior, while RPD decreased 1 percent to $56.11.
International fourth-quarter revenue was $407 million, an increase of 10 percent year over year. Average rentable vehicles increased 2 percent to 100,000, while transactions days for the segment (6.9 million) increased 4 percent. Total international RPD increased 1 percent to $53.89.
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