Kaskela Law LLC is investigating potential breach of fiduciary duty claims concerning Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: HTZ) (“Hertz”) on behalf of the company’s long-term shareholders.

Recently a securities fraud complaint was filed against Hertz on behalf of certain investors who purchased shares of the company’s stock between January 6, 2023 and April 24, 2024 (the “Relevant Period”).  According to the complaint, during the Relevant Period, Hertz and several of the company’s senior executive officers made a series of materially false and misleading statements and/or concealed that: (i) Hertz had downplayed the financial impact of vehicle depreciation, and/or overstated its ability to track and manage vehicle depreciation; (ii) demand for Hertz’s Electric Vehicles (“EVs”) was not as strong as defendants had led investors to believe; (iii) Hertz had too many vehicles, particularly EVs, in its fleet to remain profitable; and (iv) as a result of all the foregoing, Hertz was likely to incur significant losses on the disposition of both its Internal Combustion Engine (“ICE”) vehicles and EVs.

As further alleged in the complaint, despite a lack of demand for EVs, Defendants falsely told investors during the Relevant Period that: (i) “EV rental demand is very strong and strong across all aspects of our business,” (ii) that Hertz had sufficient charging stations to meet EV demand, and (iii) that Hertz would “always keep our commitment to fleeting within the confines of demand.” None of this was true. Defendants knew Hertz lacked demand for its EV fleet through Hertz’s internal systems, as well as from internal Company meetings, reports and emails informing them that EV utilization was low, and customers simply did not want to rent EVs.

On April 25, 2024, Hertz reported disappointing financial and operational results for the First Quarter of Fiscal 2024.  Therein, the company: (i) revealed that vehicle depreciation in the quarter increased $588 million ($339 on a per-unit basis), primarily driven by deterioration in estimated forward residual values and disposition losses, and (ii) reported a $195 million charge to vehicle depreciation to write down EVs held for sale that were remaining in inventory at quarter-end to fair value and to recognize the disposition losses on EVs sold in the period.  Following this news, shares of the company’s stock fell $1.12 per share, or 19.3% in value, to close at $4.68 per share on April 25, 2024.

The investigation seeks to determine whether the members of Hertz’s board of directors violated the securities laws and/or breached their fiduciary duties in connection with the above alleged misconduct.

Current Hertz shareholders who have owned the company’s shares since at least January 6, 2023 are encouraged to contact Kaskela Law LLC (D. Seamus Kaskela, Esq. or Adrienne Bell, Esq.) at (484) 229 – 0750, or by completing the form on this page, to receive additional information about this investigation and their legal rights and options.

CONTACT:

KASKELA LAW LLC
D. Seamus Kaskela, Esq.
([email protected])
Adrienne Bell, Esq.
([email protected])
18 Campus Blvd., Suite 100
Newtown Square, PA 19073
(484) 229 – 0750