# Hertz research deep dive / V7

Reviewed 24 September 2026. This update replaces 24 slide bodies, titles or material captions and refreshes source notes across the 60-slide deck.

## Three direct answers

- Global network: approximately 11,000 company-operated and franchise locations across approximately 160 countries/jurisdictions at 31 December 2025. Americas ~4,600; International ~6,300. Rounded network counts are not a company-operated-only count. Slide 3.

- Autonomous service contracts: no disclosed count of individual executed contracts. Hertz identifies one first AV program, Oro supporting Uber robotaxis using Lucid/Nuro; August guidance anticipated Bay Area operations later in 2026. Do not count Uber, Lucid and Nuro as three contracts or four driver-led markets as four autonomous contracts. Slides 32 and 35.

- Revenue geography: Q2 Americas RAC $1,918M (80.1%); International RAC $478M (19.9%). Separate country geography: U.S. $1,836M (76.6%); non-U.S. $560M. No city-by-city ranking in the reviewed financial disclosures. Slides 9 and 36.

## Material new discussion points

Airport rentals were about 66% of 2025 vehicle rental revenue, despite the much larger off-airport location count. International Q2 segment EBITDA margin was 9.8%, versus Americas 4.6%. Franchisee system revenue above 25% and franchise fees of about 2% have different denominators. The Q2 $64M GAAP profit coexists with a $47M adjusted loss. Adjusted FCF of $162M includes vehicle financing; the reconciliation is explicit. August external ABS note principal was $834.75M. The reference operating value is refreshed to $6.221B using the current equity snapshot and June net corporate principal.

## Sources and access boundary

Reviewed the latest available June 2026 10-Q, FY2025 10-K, August earnings release, investor presentation, prepared remarks and full official Q2 earnings transcript including Q&A. Reviewed Q1 transcript material, August 20 voting agreement, August 28 ABS filing and September 10 organization filing. Used the local apex-cio raw filings/transcripts and company rollup, the September 10 internal HTZ brief, and the existing hertz_field_tape research library. Internal research interpretations were checked against primary disclosures rather than repeated as fact.

FMP MCP supplied the SEC filing inventory, refreshed quote, annual estimates, geography, income statements and rating records. UW MCP supplied analyst ratings and short-interest observations. FMP did not have the Q2 transcript; the official IR transcript was downloaded instead. Full proprietary sell-side reports were not accessible. Rating/target records and the actual questions analysts asked are used without inventing private research conclusions.

## Data and model cautions

The 2026 FMP mean revenue is $9.191835923B; 2027 $9.557775834B (six analysts). EPS means are -$0.77244 and -$0.058889 (four analysts). Forecasts are consensus, not guidance. UW short interest is 114,472,183 shares at August 31 settlement, not a live September position. Corporate EBITDA excludes different items than provider generic EBITDA. All sensitivities and valuation scenarios remain labeled illustrations.

## Game integration

Nina now introduces locations, geography and franchise economics. Karp and Trixie focus on actual Palantir deployments and operating payoff. Mack covers maintenance, repairs and servicing. Val covers the named AV program and unknown contract economics. Cathie carries guidance, consensus and analyst targets. Max carries cash, debt and financing. Numbering remains stable for existing game links.

## Slide-by-slide discussion index

- 01: Hertz: After Hours — sources: E, P

- 02: HTZ at a glance — sources: FS

- 03: 11,000 locations across 160 countries — sources: K

- 04: Q2 improved, but recurring earnings stayed weak — sources: E, Q

- 05: The daily spread still has several bills to pay — sources: E, M, MODEL

- 06: The announced EV reduction was completed in 2024 — sources: TES21, EV24, K

- 07: A $25 monthly DPU change means about $162M a year — sources: E, CALC

- 08: Recalls show the cost of unavailable cars — sources: E, M

- 09: The Americas produces 80% of Q2 revenue — sources: Q

- 10: Daytona at frontline scale — sources: AIP, DAY

- 11: Connected decisions for every vehicle — sources: P, ONT, AIPDOC

- 12: A two-hour repair deadline — sources: AIP

- 13: Repair routing weighs time, cost and lost rentals — sources: AIP

- 14: A faster $200 repair can beat a slower $100 repair — sources: CALC

- 15: Labor planning is now an explicit operating disclosure — sources: M, AIP7, ORG

- 16: Fleet planning moved into Foundry in Q1 — sources: Q1T, Q1E

- 17: Airport rentals generate about two-thirds of revenue — sources: K

- 18: Utilization sensitivity — sources: E, CALC

- 19: Franchise sales and Hertz revenue are different — sources: K, Q2T

- 20: A $1 direct-cost improvement is $38.6M per quarter — sources: E, CALC

- 21: The software break-even hurdle — sources: E, CALC

- 22: Reported improvement does not isolate the AI contribution — sources: E, M

- 23: Costs improved underneath a higher daily bill — sources: Q, Q2P, M

- 24: Higher utilization can still produce less revenue — sources: OPT, CALC

- 25: 94% of the U.S. core fleet is model year 2025–26 — sources: Q2P, M

- 26: Inspection data in the operating loop — sources: UV, SEN

- 27: The resale opportunity is a channel shift — sources: Q2T, AMZ, EBAY

- 28: A 5% fleet-value shock is $684M before offsets — sources: Q, MODEL

- 29: The $64M GAAP profit is not recurring earnings — sources: E, Q2P

- 30: Cybercab rollout — sources: TCAB, TQ2

- 31: Avis and Waymo in Dallas — sources: AW, CAR

- 32: Hertz names one first AV partnership — sources: ORO, M

- 33: The work between driverless rides — sources: ORO, AW

- 34: Fleet-service unit economics — sources: AVMODEL

- 35: The AV contract count is not publicly disclosed — sources: ORO, M, CAR, TCAB

- 36: International earns more margin on less revenue — sources: Q

- 37: Existing depots help; AV investment still needs proof — sources: Q2T, ORO

- 38: Oro’s $600M outlook includes existing rentals — sources: M, ORO

- 39: Fleet data and permissions — sources: HP, P

- 40: Hertz’s data-sale disclosure — sources: HP, CCPA

- 41: Palantir’s role and customer data — sources: PLPR, PLTC

- 42: A café ad can earn money without selling a named trip history — sources: GLOC, CCPA, HP

- 43: Evidence needed for a data business — sources: HP, PLPR, GLOC, MODEL

- 44: Positive adjusted FCF includes fleet financing — sources: Q2P, E

- 45: Liquidity and borrowing capacity — sources: Q, E

- 46: About $5.29B of corporate principal falls due in 2028–29 — sources: Q

- 47: August ABS issuance shows the price of fleet funding — sources: ABS

- 48: Financing can change both debt and the share count — sources: Q, JUNE

- 49: Concentrated control meets a heavily shorted stock — sources: OWN, VOTE, US

- 50: Q3 guidance provides the nearest operating test — sources: M

- 51: Annual guidance and run-rate ambition — sources: M

- 52: Peer EBITDA margins frame the execution gap — sources: E, CAR, MODEL

- 53: The equity sits below $5.67B of net corporate debt — sources: FS, Q, MODEL

- 54: The valuation requires a much stronger earnings level — sources: M, MODEL

- 55: Debt and dilution drive very different equity outcomes — sources: MODEL

- 56: Equity sensitivity — sources: CALC

- 57: Analyst targets show the market’s skepticism — sources: RATE

- 58: The next report needs progress on a short scorecard — sources: M, CALC

- 59: Revenue consensus improves before earnings recover — sources: EST

- 60: The turnaround must become cash for shareholders — sources: M, Q, ORO