Shares of Avis Budget Group Inc. CAR dropped about 1% in the extended session Monday after the car-rental company posted a first-quarter profit and revenue beat. Avis earned $312 million, or $7.72 a share, in the quarter, compared with $519 million, or $9.71 a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue rose 5% to $2.6 billion, the company said, thanks to “strong demand” and per-day revenue in-line with the prior year. FactSet consensus called for EPS of $3.07 a share on sales of $2.5 billion. “Our first-quarter demand was strong, with our international inbound and commercial customers continuing their improved growth,” Chief Executive Joe Ferraro said in a statement. “This culminated with the most rental transactions in our first-quarter history.” Avis also managed to improve utilization “and rigorously control costs to continue to deliver strong earnings,” the executive said. Avis had about $1.4 billion in cash and equivalents at the end of quarter, with an additional $2.3 billion of fleet funding capacity and no “meaningful” debt maturities until late 2024, the company said. Avis shares ended the regular trading day up 0.3%.
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