Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTZ) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

We’ve expanded what we’re doing with Uber into Europe. We’re in 60 markets around the US. And then in Europe, all of our countries are proving profitable and we’re seeing rate and volume extend through to this summer such that summer would appear now to end from a rental car point of view in kind of October. And so, that’s another vector of continued growth. I would say on the expense side, again, to sort of play to margin and the work we have to do, it’s important to remember that while we are working on DOE and SG&A, we are running side by side IT platforms as we move from the data center into the cloud. That will start to converge more than where we have been. We will demise a single component of that, and we will see material benefit in terms of cost, particularly in through 2024 and beyond.

Last thing I would say, again, playing to margin, playing to EBITDA generation is, we continue to try to pull ourselves away and we’ll do more in 2024 from the vagaries of the wholesale market into which we sell cars, and look to rely more heavily on our retail sort of component, which is both our stores and Carvana. That’s a good mitigant to risk to residual decline. It does harvest greater gain on sale for us. I think we’re unique in the context of pursuing that. So, taking all of that and driving to a higher EBITDA level, a higher margin in 2024, those are the various components that I think feed kind of a level of optimism on the forward.

Chris Woronka: Okay, thanks, Stephen. Super helpful. And then I did have a follow-up, which maybe we can drill down on where you are on EVs a little bit. And I know you mentioned earlier that you might change your pivot a little bit in terms of what you’re in-fleeting, when and where, and maybe just a view of the economics of that business so far, where you’re at on in-fleeting, the kind of puts and takes you’re seeing from pricing changes at the OEMs on EVs, and just again, kind of the economics of how that impacts the business in 2024 and beyond in terms of RPD difference and margin difference with DOE and things like that. Thanks.

Stephen Scherr: Sure. Okay. So, EVs are now 11%, 12% of our overall fleet. It still skews to a dominant presence of Tesla in the fleet, but I think we’re encouraged that we are now taking delivery on the first EVs out of GM as part of the 175,000 that we agreed to purchase over the next five years. They are all coming at more attractive price points than where we thought they would originally. That only benefits the economics in terms of the margin to be had and the returns to be had on these cars. I would also say that as we take in more general Motors EVs, one, it mitigates the sort of single supplier risk just in terms of recall and operations. But equally, I think we’re encouraged at working more aggressively with GM by virtue of their parts supply, their network and the like, because I think that the ability on those cars at various price points to sort of see parts more readily available at lower price points, is an important element in the overall economics of running the EV platform.

From a straightway maintenance point of view, EVs are still what they promised to be, which is lower maintenance, obviously subject to sort of tires and brakes. And I think we’re quite encouraged at the longer length of keep that we’ll be able to have, flattening the depreciation curve, buying more EVs at lower price points than where we bought them in the past. And I think we find ourselves in a really interesting opportunity, particularly as cities are requiring Rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft to be 100% electric by 2030, only kind of six years or more from where we are, and we become the viable path for that to happen. And so, again, having lower price points on EVs, longer length of keep, lower depreciating sort of components, and having sort of an embedded base of demand for them in the context of Rideshare, is just another added component of why we think the economics and the first mover edge is there.