The Avis trade has more lives than a rental car with 200,000 hard miles on the odometer.

Avis Budget Group stock has surged more than 160% in the past month, delivering a windfall to billionaire Karthik Sarma. The New York-based founder of SRS Investment Management, whose personal fortune Forbes last estimated at $2.9 billion, oversees roughly $13.9 billion in assets. Avis, which generated $11.7 billion in revenue last year but posted a $995 million net loss, is his biggest bet.

At current prices, SRS’s stake in Avis is worth approximately $3.7 billion. That is more than double the roughly $1.7 billion valuation at the end of February, before the latest rally began.

This isn’t unfamiliar territory. In 2021,........

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