[GME Plot Reenacted? Hertz Short Squeeze Sparks Heated Discussion on Reddit] BlockBeats News, August 10: Recently, Hertz Global (HTZ), a low-priced stock on the U.S. market, has become the focal point of Reddit retail investors. Driven by better-than-expected Q2 earnings, HTZ surged significantly following its earnings release, prompting the market to compare this car rental company to the 2021 meme stock rallies of GME and AMC. According to BIT (bit.com) market data, HTZ jumped approximately 30% on Thursday after its earnings report and continued to climb during Friday's trading session, with trading volume significantly increasing and attracting discussions in retail investor communities like WallStreetBets. MarketBeat data shows that as of July 15, HTZ had approximately 97.54 million shares sold short, accounting for about 31.2% of its float, with a days-to-cover ratio of roughly 3.9 days. The combination of a high short interest ratio and sudden price surge has made short covering a key driver of this rally. The fundamental catalyst comes from Hertz's latest earnings report. The company reported Q2 revenue of approximately $2.396 billion, a year-over-year increase of about 10%, and net income of approximately $64 million, compared to a loss of $294 million in the same period last year. The company posted a per-share loss of $0.11, better than the market's expected loss of $0.24, and adjusted EBITDA of approximately $81 million, nearing the upper end of its guidance range. Additionally, improvements in used car prices are expected to alleviate previous market concerns about declining fleet residual values. This rally is occurring against the backdrop of a rebound in risk appetite in the U.S. stock market. Last Friday, U.S. employment data unexpectedly weakened, cooling market expectations for further rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury fell to around 4.64%, the S&P 500 Index hit a record high, the Nasdaq rose 1.3%, and the small-cap Russell 2000 Index strengthened in tandem. As funds chase high-volatility targets again, low-priced, high-short-interest stocks like HTZ are more likely to become short-term trading targets. However, compared to GME in 2021, HTZ's current short squeeze structure still falls short. The SEC's report at the time showed that GME's short interest ratio once exceeded 100% of its float, whereas HTZ currently has about 30% of its float sold short—high, but not yet at extreme levels.