Bill Ackman's Hertz Bet Faces a New Test as HTZ Flashes a Death Cross

Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: HTZ ) has already lost nearly 60% of its value this year.

Now, the chart is delivering another blow.

The car-rental company’s stock has flashed a Death Cross —a bearish technical signal that appears when the 50-day moving average falls below the 200-day moving average.

For many traders, it’s confirmation that a stock’s short-term weakness has evolved into a longer-term downtrend.

The timing couldn’t be worse for one of Hertz’s most recognizable shareholders.

Bill Ackman ‘s Pershing Square Capital Management still owns roughly 15.2 million shares of the company, even as the stock struggles to recover from its historic collapse in late June.

Hertz stock is the 10th largest holding in the Pershing Square portfolio, according to its latest disclosed holdings.

A Crash That Changed the Story Hertz’s current technical setup is rooted in a fundamental shock.

On June 24, the stock plunged 41% after the company slashed its second-quarter adjusted corporate EBITDA guidance to between $50 million and $80 million, blaming unexpected weakness in used-car prices.

Since Hertz regularly sells vehicles from its rental fleet, falling residual values translated into larger-than-expected losses and raised fresh questions about the company’s earnings power.

The company also unveiled a $400 million financing package that included $300 million in convertible senior notes and a $100 million common stock offering.

The deal, coupled with more than 37 million shares made available for hedging activities, fueled fears of shareholder dilution and sent investors rushing for the exits.

Read Also: Hertz Shares Slide After Announcing Unusual $100 Million Share Lending Offering The selling hasn’t stopped since.

HTZ is now down more than 58% over the past month and recently touched a fresh 52-week low of $2.09.

The Chart Isn’t Helping If the fundamentals weren’t enough, the technicals have also turned decisively bearish with the Death Cross formation.

The stock is also trading well below major moving averages, underscoring the strength of the recent selloff.

Momentum indicators tell a similar story.

The MACD (moving average convergence/divergence) remains in bearish territory, signaling that downside momentum is still intact, even as the pace of selling has eased.

Meanwhile, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) has slipped to around 18, placing HTZ deep in oversold territory.

While that could leave room for a short-term bounce, oversold readings alone rarely signal a lasting reversal without an improvement in the underlying fundamentals.

What Investors Should Watch A Death Cross doesn’t guarantee more downside, but it rarely improves sentiment overnight.

For Hertz, the chart is simply reinforcing what investors have already been pricing in since the June collapse: concerns over earnings, vehicle values and dilution.

Whether the stock can break that narrative will likely depend less on technical indicators and more on management proving that the worst of the used-car downturn is behind it.

Until then, even Ackman’s continued backing may not be enough to shift the market’s mood.

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