Bill Ackman Yeets $46.5 Million Into This $2.9 Billion Loser Stock—Shares Surge 56% LOL

There are market moves. There are headlines. And then there’s Bill “Let Me Cook” Ackman sliding into Hertz like it’s a distressed asset clearance sale at the end of capitalism. Spoiler: the stock went vertical.

(Source: Giphy) 

On Wednesday, shares of the rental car company—a.k.a. the same one that thought buying Teslas in bulk was a good idea—exploded 56% after CNBC reported that Ackman’s Pershing Square had gone full send and scooped up nearly 20% of the company. The receipts are as follows: Ackman’s team filed that they bought 12.7 million shares, valued around $46.5 million at the time. But wait, there’s more, baby… because through swaps (cringe) and other financial voodoo, they ballooned that position to 19.8%, making Pershing Square the second-largest shareholder. 

The crazy part? Ackman received a permission slip from the SEC to not disclose the stake right away—which let them accumulate quietly while all of us retail plebs were still trying to remember what Hertz even does besides losing your reservation and upsell insurance. But as soon as CNBC dropped the scoop, boom... Hertz ended up ripping like it was 2021 Gamestop on Zyn.

(Source: Bloomberg) 

Now, with that said, anyone who’s been paying attention knows Hertz hasn’t exactly been crushing it lately. This is the company that YOLO’d into Tesla's post-bankruptcy, somehow thinking that their typical customer—a guy in cargo shorts with a laminated AAA card—wanted to rent an EV that requires a PhD in charging etiquette. Spoiler: They didn’t. 

That move alone torched billions in residual value and helped fuel a $2.9B annual loss in 2024. In fact, the company had to eat a $245 million loss just in Q4 from dumping EVs—which, might I add, is exactly what happens when you buy luxury tech and realize your customers just want to get to the airport without downloading an app.

(Source: CNBC) 

So then, why the hell is Ackman buying? Because either he’s playing a new game of chess or he’s about to tweet through the pain. To be fair, the man has made a career out of turning sh*t into shareholder value. He bet on Chipotle when it was still apologizing for giving half the country E. coli. He made billions on Covid CDS, and even though it was a massive L from Carl Icahn, he has managed to ride into the history books by starring in a Herbalife Netflix documentary. Bigly. 

So with that, what’s the play? Well, yours truly has a few theories. For one, it could be a deep value redemption arc in the making. At the time, Hertz was down 47% over the past year. The EV disaster is already priced in, and Ackman could be betting that the company’s pivot back to gas-powered vehicles, cost-cutting, and fleet optimization will drive a turnaround. 

(Source: Giphy) 

Additionally, this is Pershing Square we’re talking about. If there’s a way to extract value through buybacks, spin-offs, or a leveraged recap, Bill’s already modeling it out with Jedi like financial engineering. But then, again, Hertz went bankrupt in 2020, and retail investors still made money. Meaning, the stock has some meme DNA in it. All it needed was a catalyst to get investors horned up, and Ackman may be it. 

Of course, there’s also a non-zero chance this goes full “Valeant 2.0.” But hey, clearly Ackman is confident enough in his position to hoard 20% of the company. Obviously, the question now is, should you buy Hertz? Well, that’s your call. But the market just watched a guy with a 10-figure track record walk into a flaming wreck of a company and say, “I’ll take all of it”---and rewarded it with a 50% explosion. Now, that doesn’t mean it’s a sure thing… it just means there’s really something there—or investors who bought at the tip are about to feel a mountain of pain when the hype comes crashing down. 

(Source: Giphy) 

For now, keep your eyes on Hertz and its price action, but don’t dismiss the fact that Ackman could push this stock even higher. So in the end, place your bets accordingly and as always, stay safe and stay frosty! Until next time, friends… 

P.S. Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know you liked getting rekt. Let’s face it, retail investors get the short end of the stick all day everyday. It’s the smart money’s world, and we are just living in it–only useful when it comes to liquidity purposes in the market. Meaning, if you’re as pissed off as I was when I found out Milli Vanilli was lip syncing the whole time, then it’s time to go from investing blind, to investing smart. Luckily for you, the key is right here as a Stocks.News premium member. Click here to see exactly how our premium members are printing while others quake in the face of today’s market chaos. 

Stocks.News holds positions in Tesla as mentioned in the article.