The folks at Hertz Global Holdings Inc. have made a U-turn and dropped the company’s lawsuit against the small research firm that had warned the car rental company was one of 20 U.S. companies “likely to go bankrupt or suffer severe financial distress.”

Hertz spokesman Richard Broome cited two key reasons that convinced Hertz to dismiss its libel suit against Los Angeles-based Audit Integrity Inc. First, Audit Integrity had acknowledged that Hertz’s risk exposure was low, he says.