Shares of Hertz Global Holdings Inc., the largest publicly traded U.S. auto-rental chain, rose the most in more than two months after the company reported profit that exceeded analysts’ estimates as it lowered costs and boosted sales.

The shares rose 5.1 percent to $14.29 at the close in New York, the biggest gain since Dec. 16. They have risen 22 percent this year.

Fourth-quarter profit was $47.1 million, or 11 cents a share, compared with a loss of $28.1 million, or 7 cents, a year earlier, the Park Ridge, New Jersey-based company said in a statement today. Excluding some items, profit was 24 cents a share. Five analysts in a Bloomberg survey had, on average, estimated profit of 20 cents.

Sales rose 9.7 percent to $2.01 billion, compared with the $1.99 billion average of five analysts’ estimates. Operating expense as a portion of revenue fell to 52.5 percent from 56.4 percent in the quarter.

Hertz said profit this year would be $1.16 to $1.26 a share, on sales of as much as $8.95 billion. Analysts were predicting profit of $1.22 a share on sales of $8.90 billion.