Hertz opened around $26.67, or 8.03% below $29 IPO price

Hertz opened around $26.67, or 8.03% below $29 IPO price.

The increased demand for car rentals brought about by pandemic-related vehicle shortages gave Hertz second quarter results and revenue near pre-pandemic levels. Plans for an IPO bubbled to the surface in August despite a net loss of $168 million.

Headquartered in Estero, Florida, the car rental company posted net income of $21 million on $3.2 billion revenue January through July. During the same period in 2020, Hertz posted a net loss of $1.2 billion on $2.8 billion in revenue, according to media reports.

Hertz came out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy following a $6 billion deal that gave 42 percent ownership to Knighthead Capital Management, Certares Opportunities and Apollo Capital Management.

Overall car shortages have pushed vehicle rental prices to historical highs, something Hertz is benefitting from after a pandemic-era abundance of available inventory. When travel locked down, Hertz was among the many car rental companies paying for overflow parking for unrented vehicles.

Many shareholders lost fortunes when Hertz filed for bankruptcy, but when the world started reopening as COVID-19 eased, Hertz found itself faced with not having enough cars to meet consumers’ demands. Used cars were selling out everywhere while new vehicle inventories contracted and were not replenished.

Chip shortages, supply chain snags and a lack of inventory for car buyers brought automobile rental agencies like Hertz a heightened level of demand, according to reports. As a result, Hertz is seeing higher car rental prices and a fatter bottom line.

Car rental prices have dropped 15 percent from the record highs of June, according to the most recent consumer price index, but are still more than 50 percent higher in September of this year than in 2019.

The public offering and repurchase plan follow a run-up in the company’s stock after it announced former Ford CEO Mark Fields as its interim CEO and a plan to add 100,000 Tesla cars to its fleet through 2022.

It’s unclear the status of Hertz’s deal with Tesla, after CEO Elon Musk last week said no deal had been signed. Hertz has declined to directly comment on the deal, citing its plans remain on track.