By Medha Singh

(Reuters). – Shares Avis Budget (NASDAQ:) Group Inc almost doubled Tuesday after retail investors raced to grab a share of the highly shorted U.S. rental car company.

Avis executives stated also that they are in contact with manufacturers to discuss plans to increase the number of electric vehicles within its fleet.

Following multiple stops for volatility and trading, shares were last at $315. This is the sharpest percentage increase in a single day since 2009. The stock rose as much as $545.11 in the previous session.

Avis’ steep rise was reminiscent of GameStop’s rally (NYSE:), and other meme stocks that occurred earlier in the year. This rally was driven partly by the coordination of retail investors on Reddit’s WallStreetBets, and other online forums.

According to data from S3 Partners, 21% are Avis Budget’s free floating shares shorted. This makes Avis Budget more vulnerable to the phenomenon of a short squeeze. A short squeeze is when investors that bet against companies are made to unwind positions in response to an increase in the stock market.

According to Ihor Dusaniwsky, S3 Partners managing director for predictive analytics and Ihor Dusaniwsky, short sellers suffered losses of $4.29 Billion in mark-to market at an increase of $481.50 on Tuesday.

The short squeeze may force short sellers in Avis to sell all or part their Avis positions.

Hertz’s shares increased by about 7 percent, reverseing previous losses.

Avis was a top-trending stock with a 608% rise in message volume via investor-focused site stocktwits.com. This indicated small-time investors’ interest.

Avis saw a 96% increase in its total revenue to $3 billion during the third quarter, compared to last year. The higher COVID-19-vaccinations encouraged more people to drive again. The company’s share price was $10.74, excluding other items.

Refinitiv IBES data shows that analysts expected earnings to reach $6.52 per share for revenue of $2.71 trillion.

The company saw nearly 24,000,000 shares change hands. This was easily the busiest trading session of the year. Avis shares increased the average by 6.2%.