Avis Budget Group Inc (NASDAQ:CAR) is up 6.6% to trade at $647.69 and hit a record high of $723.57 out of the gate. That is not a misprint. Despite closing the first quarter of 2026 trading at $145.85, the rental car stock has exploded higher in April, adding 383%. This morning, Barclays issued a downgrade to "underweight" from "equal-weight" but hiked its price target to $150 from $95.
A year ago, the stock was trading around $80. But CAR simply cannot be stopped this quarter; finishing lower only twice the last month, Monday gapping higher by 23.3%. The absurd rally has put the shares' 14-Day Relative Strength Index (RSI) all the way to 97.
A massive short squeeze reminiscent of the GameStop (GME) squeeze of 2021 is the culprit. Short interest is up 19.5% in the most recent reporting period, and the 9.03 million shares sold short account for 26% of CAR's total available float. At the stock's average pace of trading, it would take short sellers almost eight trading days to buy back their bearish bets.
Options traders are calling the top. The equity's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 3.29 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) sits higher than 94% of annual readings. Echoing this, the security's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 2.61 ranks in the 99th annual percentile.
Today, 42,000 options have changed hands already this morning, volume that's seven times the average intraday amount. The weekly 5/1 750-strike call is seeing buy-to-open activity, while the weekly 9/18 100-strike is the most popular put.
