Avis Budget Group, Inc. (CAR) Stock Price & How to Invest

Avis Budget Group runs one of the three big global vehicle-rental platforms, operating the Avis, Budget, Budget Truck, Payless and Zipcar brands across airport, off-airport, urban and international markets. Revenue comes from renting a large owned-and-leased vehicle fleet, and the economics hinge on utilization, per-day pricing and the residual value of cars when they are sold out of the fleet. The company competes with privately held Enterprise Holdings, Hertz, Europe's Sixt, and peer-to-peer platforms like Turo and Getaround.

The investment picture is defined by leverage and cyclicality. Full-year 2025 revenue was about $11.7 billion, but the company posted a large net loss after writing down electric-vehicle residual values, and it carries roughly $6 billion of corporate debt on top of around $18 billion of vehicle-program debt, leaving negative stockholders' equity. Bulls point to a return to revenue growth, record vehicle utilization and a raised 2026 EBITDA outlook; skeptics focus on the thin equity cushion, refinancing needs and how sensitive earnings are to used-car prices.

The equity is small relative to enormous fleet and corporate debt, so modest swings in used-car residual values, interest rates or demand can move the stock sharply, and the shares carry a beta well above the market. Negative stockholders' equity leaves little cushion if losses continue, and refinancing large maturities is an ongoing requirement rather than a one-time event. Competition from Enterprise, Hertz, Sixt and peer-to-peer platforms limits pricing power, and further EV or fleet writedowns remain possible. Results are also seasonal, with the first quarter typically the weakest, which can exaggerate headline losses.

7 analysts publish price targets on CAR, averaging $129.14 against a $137.44 price as of August 2026, or -6.0%. The published targets run from $94.00 to $160.00, a moderate spread, and the ratings split 0 buy, 6 hold, 2 sell. Over the last six months there have been 9 raises and 3 cuts among the published actions. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.

Read the full CAR forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.

We give no verdict on Avis Budget Group, Inc.. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.

The case for buying. Fleet utilization and pricing recovery. Avis reported first-quarter 2026 vehicle utilization near 70 percent, described as a first-quarter record for both its Americas and International segments in over fifteen years. The most optimistic published target, $160.00, assumes this works close to its best case.

The case against. The equity is small relative to enormous fleet and corporate debt, so modest swings in used-car residual values, interest rates or demand can move the stock sharply, and the shares carry a beta well above the market. The most pessimistic target, $94.00, is roughly what CAR is worth if this bites instead.

Read the full bull and bear case on CAR, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Avis Budget Group, Inc.'s investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (FY2025): ~$11.7B
• Revenue (Q1 2026): ~$2.53B, up ~4% YoY
• Net loss (FY2025): ~$995M
• Adjusted EBITDA (FY2025): ~$748M
• Corporate debt: ~$6.0B (leverage ~7.6x)
• Market cap: ~$5.8B (share price ~$161)

CAR does not screen on a simple price-to-earnings basis because trailing earnings per share are negative, so investors lean on enterprise-value-to-EBITDA and the path back toward the company's roughly $1 billion adjusted EBITDA goal. With about 35 million shares outstanding and negative book equity, the stock behaves like a leveraged call on the rental cycle. Figures are approximate and drawn from the company's 2025 full-year and first-quarter 2026 disclosures.

Other names that sit close to CAR: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.

There are three common ways to get CAR exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so CAR sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where CAR fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

CAR pairs a recovering top line and record fleet utilization with negative equity and heavy leverage, making it a high-beta bet on the rental cycle and vehicle residual values.

Whether CAR is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is CAR a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the CAR stock forecast.

For income investors, whether CAR pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does CAR pay a dividend? And to weigh CAR against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: CAR vs ALG and CAR vs HTZ.