Dow Jones Newswires: Avis Budget earnings and sales continued to benefit from higher car-rental prices in holiday quarter

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Avis Budget Group Inc. reported higher sales in the fourth quarter as revenue per day and rental days continued to increase from the third quarter.

Avis Budget
CAR,
+7.43%

reported a profit of $382 million, or per-share earnings of $6.63, compared with a loss of $90 million, or a loss per share of $1.29, in the same quarter a year ago. Adjusted per-share earnings were $7.08. Analysts polled by FactSet expected adjusted per-share earnings of $6.15.

Revenue rose to $2.57 billion from $1.36 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet expected $2.34 billion.

The number of rental days rose to about 28 million in the quarter ended Dec. 31, up from 17.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Expenses also rose in the fourth quarter. Operating expenses rose to $1.17 billion from $817 million in the prior-year quarter, while selling, general and administrative expenses rose to $308 million from $154 million.

“Our strong performance continued in the fourth quarter with all of our key metrics beating pre-pandemic levels in the Americas,” Chief Executive Joe Ferraro said in prepared remarks.

Shares dipped slightly in after-hours trading, after gaining 7.4% to $194.71 in the regular session.

Write to Denny Jacob at denny.jacob@wsj.com

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