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Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group roared to an eye-popping 1,103 percent gain over the past three months, best among all stocks on the Russell 3000 Index.
"I think we were the No. 1 stock on the New York Stock Exchange," Dollar Thrifty Chief Executive Scott L. Thompson said Tuesday.
Three months ago, a dollar would nearly buy a share of the rental car company, as traders priced Dollar Thrifty for bankruptcy. Tuesday, the stock closed at $13.95.
A former subsidiary of Chrysler Motors, Dollar Thrifty suffered along with its former parent as the auto manufacturer stumbled into bankruptcy, Thompson said.
"At one time, Chrysler owed us $300 million," he said. "The fear of what might happen with Chrysler certainly bled over into our company."
Chrysler paid its debt, and the automaker's continuing obligations were shifted to the surviving Chrysler Group LLC by the bankruptcy court.
Simultaneous with the Chrysler issues, Dollar Thrifty's poor performance caused the company to violate some debt covenants. The company restructured many of those agreements in the midst of a worldwide credit crisis, he said.
"We had to get about 100 lenders to approve our debt restructuring. That gave us plenty of breathing room from a liquidity standpoint."
Settling those financial issues and posting improved earnings in the first quarter launched the stock price recovery, he said.
"I think that really got some people noticing us," Thompson said. "It's not very many companies that are performing better this year than last year."
"Reasonable" stock purchases by company insiders also boosted investor confidence in Dollar Thrifty.
Thompson took the reins of Dollar Thrifty in October, succeeding Gary Paxton, who retired. Thompson joined the company a year ago as chief financial officer.
On the day of Thompson's promotion, the stock closed at $1.03. It wasn't just traders who were pondering a potential bankruptcy as the stock price dipped as low as 60 cents, Thompson said.
"Like all prudent management teams, we had various alternatives -- we were running parallel paths," he said. "Depending on what happened with Chrysler, depending on what happened with our lenders, depending on what happened with getting our company back to cash-flow positive, we had to keep an eye on that alternative."
Longtime Oklahoma stockbroker Bob Rader said he's "tickled" by Dollar Thrifty's big stock gains.
"It's nice to see some of our local companies sticking their heads up," said Rader, senior vice president at Capital West Securities.
Dollar Thrifty employs 700 people in Tulsa, and about 6,800 worldwide.
State's stocks on rise
Most Oklahoma stocks fared well in the second quarter, reflecting the S&P 500's 15 percent gain, which broke a string of six consecutive quarterly declines. The Dow Industrials advanced 11 percent from April through June, its best quarterly gain since 2003.
In any other quarter, Gulfport Energy Corp.'s 195 percent gain might have topped state-based stocks. But shareholders of the Oklahoma City oil and gas company likely are satisfied with the near-tripling of their stakes. Tulsa's North American Galvanizing & Coatings ranked third among state stocks, with a 101 percent gain.
Among laggards were Bronco Drilling, which slid 19 percent; Hiland Partners, off 9 percent; and BancFirst, down 5 percent.
To see more of The Oklahoman, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.newsok.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
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