Avis Faces Extra Earnings Scrutiny After Hertz’s Market Revival

Avis Budget Group Inc. has an unusual task at hand when it reports earnings on Tuesday: convincing investors that not going bankrupt was a good thing.

It was Hertz Global Holdings Inc.’s emergence from bankruptcy in June that put Avis in the predicament. The once debt-addled company has been reborn with a balance sheet that some analysts say is the strongest to be found in the highly cyclical and capital intensive car-rental business.

With only two publicly traded rental-car companies in the U.S. to choose from, investors looking to get in on the resurgent industry as the economy recovers may ...