Car rental giant receives holiday boost

ESTERO — Hertz picked up a pre-Thanksgiving boost, when the stock of the struggling car rental giant closed at more than $40 a share for the first time since the summer.

Shares of the Estero-based company closed at $40.25 Nov. 23. Shares dropped a bit the next day markets were open, Nov. 25, closing at $39.94. Shares are up roughly 25% since Nov. 8 — when investor Carl Icahn bought 1.2 million shares of the company, valued at nearly $35 million. Icahn now owns more than one-third of Hertz's shares, going back to 2014 when he first invested in the company. Three people connected to Icahn's firm currently sit on the Hertz board.

Even with the recent climb in shares, Hertz has several looming challenges, even with the recent rise in shares. At least two Wall Street research analyst firms, Deutsche Bank AG and Zaks Investment Research, recently downgraded the stock. And in a recent earnings report, Hertz officials say full-year earnings may be less than one-fifth of projections from August.