Hello, Thanks for signing up for MarketBeat Daily Ratings—we’re excited to have you on board. Every weekday, you’ll get a curated summary of new “Buy” and “Sell” ratings from Wall Street’s top-rated analysts, the latest stock news, and bonus investing content—all delivered straight to your inbox. You’re just two quick steps away from completing your sign-up: 1. Make sure our emails go to your inbox Gmail users:
Mobile: Tap the three dots (…) in the top right and select Move to Inbox or Move to Primary
Desktop: Click the folder icon at the top and select Move to Inbox or Primary Apple Mail users:
Tap our email address at the top (next to From: on mobile), then select Add to VIP Other providers:
Reply to this message and add newsletters@analystratings.net to your contacts 2. Confirm your subscription Click this link to confirm your subscription. This verifies your account and ensures you receive your newsletters without interruption instead of getting stuck in your spam filter. Confirm your subscription here. After you confirm, feel free to download our popular free report, "7 Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever" with this link. Thanks again for subscribing—we look forward to being part of your investing journey. 
Matthew Paulson
Founder and CEO, MarketBeat. P.S. If you didn’t mean to subscribe, no problem—you can unsubscribe here.
Additional Reading from MarketBeat Revisiting Hertz's Amazon Partnership 5 Months Later: The Good, the Bad, the RiskBy Jordan Chussler. Published: 2/3/2026. 
Key Takeaways - After a net income loss of $2.8 billion in 2024, Hertz hoped that a strategic partnership with Amazon could help offset its mounting depreciation costs.
- According to the company’s management, the aim was to see $2,000 or more in incremental margin benefit per vehicle sold versus wholesale channels.
- That has yet to materialize on Hertz’s books, with free cash flow contracting 442% in Q3 2025 and the stock having lost 10% since the deal was signed.
It has been a rough ride for shareholders of Hertz Global Holdings (NASDAQ: HTZ). Over the past five years, shares are down more than 79%, including a nearly 43% loss since the stock's one-year high on April 24, 2025. Last summer, the company—looking for a spark—signed a strategic partnership with Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) to move some of its aging and unpopular inventory. The deal with Amazon Autos aims to sell Hertz's used cars by giving "customers a faster, more convenient way to buy their [pre-owned] car online," providing access to thousands of listings eligible for online purchase and pick-up at 45 locations nationwide. Hertz also offers flexible financing options, a 12-month/12,000-mile limited powertrain warranty, 24-hour roadside assistance, and a 7-day/250-mile buyback guarantee. The move was intended to help offset the impact of a multi-billion-dollar net loss in 2024, driven in part by an aggressive pivot to an EV-focused fleet and subsequent vehicle depreciation after price cuts by Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA). Here is how the stock has performed in the five months since inking that deal with Amazon. Hertz's Strategic Partnership With Amazon Aimed to Right the Ship After the deal was announced on Aug. 20, 2025, outlets like CNBC called it a threat to auto dealers, and HTZ shares initially surged on the news. But despite the success of online used-car retailers like Carvana (NYSE: CVNA), Hertz's Amazon strategy depends on convincing customers to buy what is often the second-most expensive asset in many American households on a platform better known for toothpaste and toilet paper. During the company's Q3 2025 earnings call, CEO Gil West said that "by scaling our direct-to-consumer and e-commerce channels, we're positioned to capture $2,000 or more incremental margin benefit per vehicle versus wholesale channels." However, total sales figures for vehicles sold exclusively through Amazon Autos are not publicly disclosed, leaving investors to dig through Hertz's income statements and balance sheet for clues. Hertz's Financials Are Not Inspiring Hope One clear clue is in the company's accumulated depreciation, which rose every quarter from Q3 2024 to Q3 2025 — climbing from $308 million to $1.33 billion, a near 332% increase. Rising accumulated depreciation generally signals aging assets that are losing value on the books. Over the same period, Hertz's plant, property, and equipment (PP&E) fell by more than 4%, long-term debt increased by nearly 7%, and revenue growth contracted each quarter. Perhaps most concerning, free cash flow declined roughly 442% in Q3 2025. Over that five-month period since the partnership announcement, HTZ shares are down nearly 10%, while AMZN shares are up nearly 9%. Looking further back, after annual EPS of $1.39 per share in 2023, Hertz finished 2024 with a loss per share of $9.34. Those problems extended into 2025, with EPS losses of $1.44 and $0.95 in Q1 and Q2 before a surprise earnings beat of $0.59 in Q3. That momentary turnaround has done little to instill confidence among shareholders or analysts as the struggling rental and transportation company works to convince investors it can stabilize its business. Analysts' Tale of Two Companies Amazon, which reports full-year and Q4 2025 earnings on Thursday, Feb. 5, remains in analysts' favor; the same cannot be said about Hertz. AMZN has a consensus Moderate Buy rating, with 55 of 59 analysts covering the stock assigning it a Buy rating, and an average 12-month price target that implies nearly 22% upside. By contrast, HTZ holds a consensus Reduce rating, with no analysts assigning it a Buy rating. Its average 12-month price target still implies about 8% potential upside, but that offers little solace to investors who have endured steep losses. Making matters worse for Hertz, short interest remains high: current short interest stands at 18.41%, or more than 51 million shares of the 311.6 million shares outstanding. Hertz scores higher than just 23% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat and ranks 109th out of 130 stocks in the transportation sector. TradeSmith assigns Hertz a middling financial health score in the Yellow Zone, where HTZ has spent most of the past six months. While Hertz does not report full-year and Q4 2025 earnings until Feb. 12, its net income fell from $616 million in 2023 to a loss of $2.8 billion in 2024 — a decline of nearly 565%.
| 
Post a Comment
Post a Comment