Avis Budget upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank upgraded Avis Budget to Buy from Hold with a price target of $248, up from $234. The analyst upgraded Avis Budget (CAR) and downgraded Hertz (HTZ), seeing an “unreasonably wide risk/reward disconnect between the two stocks here.” The firm sees Avis as a “steady operator” that has a pretty clear path to delivering earnings that are at least in line with current Street expectations. Yet, the stock’s multiples continue to compress as sentiment has turned overwhelmingly negative as many bears appear to be casually assuming that issues at Hertz will eventually find their way over to Avis as well, “which creates opportunity for tactical investors,” contends Deutsche Bank.