00:00What's also a hockey stick is the short interest in Avis and that's perhaps the reason behind this move or
00:06it is the reason behind this move.
00:07So the stock as Matt pointed out is up more than 450 percent or more than 500 percent in a
00:14massive short squeeze.
00:15Bloomberg's Jordan Fitzgerald has been following the story for us.
00:19It's such a good story. Just tell us like the players how this came to be.
00:23I mean that's the big question obviously Avis shares like you said up about 450 percent in April so far.
00:30It really seems like this rally took off starting at the end of March following an investment disclosure from Pentwater
00:35Capital Management.
00:36But really it's been anything but fundamental over here. Avis shares have really just been short squeezed higher.
00:43But you'd think like with all of this short squeezing you know the short sellers would think oh maybe maybe
00:48I'm at a loss here.
00:50You know I'm the stock is up 450 percent. I'm losing my money here.
00:54But really short interest has continued to rise. Short interest was at 54 percent March 30th according to data from
01:00S3 Partners.
01:01But now we're at 63 percent. Short interest is at the highest in at least 10 years.
01:06And that really goes to show that the market is saying like yeah you might be up in this vertical
01:11you know mind boggling way right now.
01:14But we don't believe it's going to last. So wait what is this chart.
01:17So this one is the S&P short interest. So it's different than what Jordan was mentioning as to the
01:21S3.
01:22The S3 I think is more up to date. This one is I can't see exactly what it is.
01:25But I think this is S&P data. I can't see what it is either which makes it a fairly
01:29useless chart.
01:30In general it's like the direction of short interest on Avis. I got it.
01:34The way to look at this. I get that. Yeah I get that. So why.
01:38A lot of defying gravity going on here. But why. I mean I get that Avis is kind of an
01:42also ran.
01:43If you're going to go rent a car you're probably going to look first at Hertz.
01:47But why short. Why is the short interest this big. And do you see short interest like that at other
01:53car rental companies.
01:54At used car sailors and other car you know related.
01:58Like Turo is not publicly traded. But. Yeah. So Avis and Hertz they are the only publicly traded car rental
02:03companies.
02:04But with Avis it really is. You know a matter of this short squeeze. Hertz is also you know has
02:11been rallying.
02:12Short interest is up. Hertz is up about 60 percent this month. And that really goes to show that you
02:17know these companies generally do
02:19kind of pull at each other. If one is up the other tends to be up. But because the disparity
02:24indicates that you know this isn't really
02:27about the fundamentals. The car rental space is doing well. And I think all of this kind of belies that.
02:32But.
02:33Hertz is. Hertz is up because Avis is being short squeezed. I wonder if it's hurt by Turo. Because I
02:38now use Turo.
02:39I love Turo. Automatically. I only use Turo. Me too. I won't use anything else. Because you can get really
02:44cool cars.
02:45I can't say that I've rented a car before. You've never rented a car. I think I've only recently become
02:50the age where you're allowed to rent a car.
02:52Wow. Good for you. Rub it in Jordan. Live it up Jordan. Enjoy it while it lasts.
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