Avis Budget Group (CAR) has delivered one of the most violent round-trips in recent market history. In a matter of weeks from late March, the stock surged over 600% on the back of an extreme short squeeze, only to collapse by almost 70% in just two trading sessions.
What looked like a breakout story quickly reversed itself. With an unusually high short interest and a tightly held float, the setup was primed for a squeeze of historic proportions. As short sellers rushed to cover, price action detached entirely from fundamentals, pushing shares to intraday highs above $800 before gravity reasserted itself. Avis Budget has a short interest of 9.03 million shares sold short, representing 26.1% of the public float.
