Investing.com -- Shares in Avis Budget Group Inc (O:CAR) crashed nearly 12% on Tuesday afternoon after the rental car company narrowly missed analysts' expectations with its earnings and revenues in the final quarter of fiscal year 2015.
In Avis Budget Group's fourth quarter, which ended in late-December, the New Jersey-based company reported losses of $5 million or 0.06 per share, down considerably from net profits of $23 million a year earlier. Excluding the effects of one-time items, Avis reported earnings of $18 million or 0.18 per share, down from profits of $25 million or 0.23 per share in the fourth quarter of 2014. Avis also finished with revenues of $1.9 billion, up slightly from $1.88 billion a year earlier.
Analysts expected sales of $1.93 billion on adjusted earnings per share of 0.17.
Avis blamed the subpar results on the strong currency headwinds, which tamped down on its performance throughout the quarter. While Avis' revenues rose moderately by 1% on the quarter, the company said they were up 5% on a constant currency basis. In terms of Adjusted EBITDA, Avis reported a 5% gain in constant currency, but a 1% decline overall. Nevertheless, Avis still finished the year with a 3% in Adjusted EBITDA at $903 million, its most in company history.
"We had record results in 2015, successfully overcoming substantial exchange-rate headwinds and softer-than-expected growth in commercial demand. We also returned nearly $400 million of cash to stockholders this year in the form of share repurchases, reflecting the confidence we have in our long-term growth prospects," said Larry De Shon, Avis Budget Group Chief Executive Officer.
Moving forward, Avis expects that full-year revenue in 2016 will increase 2 to 4% to $8.85 billion, even as currency translation negatively impacts growth by roughly $140 million. Avis also forecasts total company per-unit fleet costs of $280 to $290 per month, up from $277 in 2015.
"Our 2016 earnings outlook reflects incremental investments we are making in our business to enhance the customer experience we offer and expand our long-term margins." De Shon added.
Shares in Avis plunged 3.58 or 11.94% to 26.41 in after-hours trading.