URI US S&P 500Russell 1000 Earnings call · transcribed from the recording

United Rentals (URI) · Q3 2026 results and valuation

Share price: $1150.80 · 2026-11-11

United Rentals is an equipment rental company that provides construction, industrial, and power equipment. It serves customers across the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Source: 10-K annual report (2026-01-28)

Results Q3 2026 vs Q1 2026 · previous quarter · published 21 Oct 2026 and 23 Apr 2026

Net income up 73.3% on the previous quarter. Management sounded about as positive as a typical company call, in its script and in answers to analysts.

1 · Numbers

+73.3%

Net income vs Q1 2026

Outlook given

Net income 920.0M vs 531.0M

Revenue +22.8%

Against the same quarter last year (Q3 2025) it is +31.2% — part of the move on last quarter is seasonal.

Why Against the same quarter last year (+31.2%), net income rose primarily because adjusted EBITDA margin increased 160 basis points to 47.6% due to strong cost discipline, while rental revenue grew 18% to $4.3 billion.

2 · How management spoke

Typical

More upbeat than 60% of company calls

Answers to analysts: restrained, in line with the script.

Similar to last call.

3 · What stood out

United Rentals projects a roughly 70 basis point improvement in its full-year EBITDA margin compared to the flat margin goal shared in January, excluding specific one-time items.

Valuation

Is United Rentals undervalued?

Reverse DCF on net income from the last full fiscal year (no meaningful free cash flow: a bank, insurer or a year of negative cash flow) (2025-12-31), grown for 10 years, discounted back, plus a terminal value. “Implied growth” is the rate the current price assumes.

At 10.0% growth a year (3-year revenue growth), the model's fair value is $686.83 a share — the stock trades 68% above it. Today's price assumes 15.1% growth a year.

Current price

$1150.80

close of 2026-11-11

Market implies growth of i

+15.1% for 10 yrs

Fair value / share

$686.83

Buy below

$515.12

Price vs fair value

Overvalued 68%

Price vs buy-below price

Overvalued 123%

Management expects

Revenue +12% · from the Q3 2026 report: “URI revised its guidance to reflect over 12% total revenue growth and EBITDA margins over 46% because the demand environment for large projects remains robust.”

A guidance figure for revenue, usually one year ahead, not a 10-year free-cash-flow rate.

FCF growth / yr i Discount rate i Terminal growth i Margin of safety i

Official channels

The company's own website and social media accounts.

Read between the lines

Guidance

URI revised its guidance to reflect over 12% total revenue growth and EBITDA margins over 46% because the demand environment for large projects remains robust.
Guidance

Total revenue is now expected in the range of $18 to $18.2 billion, an increase of $450 million at midpoint versus prior guidance, while use sales are expected at around $1.45 billion.
Figure

Specialty rental revenue grew 35% year-over-year including 12 cold starts, bringing the total to 40 cold starts to date.

Source quote
“Specialty was a standout with rental revenue growth of 35% year-over-year, including 12 cold starts, which brings us to 40 cold starts here to date.”
Key theme

URI expects to sell approximately $2.8 billion of fleet this year because the demand for used equipment remains strong.

Source quote
“The demand for used equipment remains strong, and we still expect to sell approximately $2.8 billion of fleet this year.”
Guidance

Excluding specific one-time items, the company projects a roughly 70 basis point improvement in its full-year EBITDA margin compared to the flat margin goal shared in January.

3 more

Figure

United Rentals' balance sheet is very healthy, allowing us to support both organic and inorganic growth, and to also return nearly $500 million to shareholders during the quarter through a combination of share buybacks and its…
Key theme

URI reported that it was able to offset specific costs or losses during Q3 2026 compared to Q1 2026.

Source quote
“And yet here again, we've been able to offset that.”
Key theme

The company stated it feels really good about its expectations for the fourth quarter.

Source quote
“We feel really good about our expectations for the fourth quarter.”

Tone

How upbeat the language was, compared with other companiesi. Dot: Q3 2026. Ring: Q1 2026.

Prepared remarks Typical (was upbeat)

Answers to analysts Restrained (was typical)

Script and answers carried a similar tone, so the script's message held up under questioning.

Sentences that drove the tone

“And for our shareholders, this translates to profitable growth, strong free cash flow, and compelling returns.”

“Even with higher CapEx needs, we're able to generate meaningful free cash flow due to a combination of our industry-leading profitability, capital efficiency, and the flexibility of our business model.”

“I mean, growth itself has been very strong, stronger than we expected.”

Full figures

USD · SEC EDGAR XBRL (10-Q, period end 2026-09-30)

Metric	Q3 2026period end 2026-09-30	Q1 2026period end 2026-03-31	Change	Q3 2025	YoY
Revenue	4.89B	3.98B	+22.8%	4.23B	+15.7%
Gross profit	2.05B	1.47B	+39.3%	1.67B	+22.9%
Operating income	1.41B	869.0M	+62.1%	1.11B	+26.5%
Net income	920.0M	531.0M	+73.3%	701.0M	+31.2%
EPS	14.77	8.43	+75.2%	10.91	+35.4%
P/E today 23.2	22.0	18.6	+3.4	24.6	−2.6

Topics

Most discussed now

United Rentals had talked about how it is driving historically high time utilization.
The combination of a strong demand environment and fleet productivity underpins this additional spend as United Rentals ensures it supports…
New This is across the board concerted effort for all of it to make sure United Rentals recaptures the cost that it is...
New United Rentals still has white space geographically in some of these markets and really the ability to grow some density in...
Team United continues to raise the bar, providing an unmatched offering for United Rentals' customers while also generating strong returns.

Faded since Q1 2026

Dropped In terms of the $15 million of cost reductions you mentioned, I'm guessing you're talking about the incremental restructuring expense...
Fading United Rentals is pleased to be raising its full year guidance based on the momentum it is carrying into its busy...
Fading As you think about the acquisitions United Rentals did, it justs held on to some of those Ahern facilities maybe longer...

Latest announcements

Official filings, newest first. Summaries are generated from each filing and its attachment; every figure is checked against the source.

2026-10-29 Material agreement; Agreement terminated; New financial obligation; Other events · SEC 8-K
2026-10-21 Results of operations; Regulation FD disclosure · SEC 8-K
United Rentals reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of $4.893 billion and net income of $920 million, with rental revenue increasing 17.8% year-over-year to $4.316 billion.
2026-09-08 Regulation FD disclosure · SEC 8-K
United Rentals, Inc. announced that its executive management team will participate in the Morgan Stanley 14th Annual Laguna Conference on September 15, 2026, to discuss business and forward-looking information.
2026-07-22 Results of operations; Regulation FD disclosure · SEC 8-K
United Rentals reported total revenue of $4.410 billion and rental revenue of $3.849 billion for the second quarter of 2026, with rental revenue increasing 12.7% year-over-year.
2026-06-18 Material agreement; New financial obligation · SEC 8-K
United Rentals, Inc. entered into Amendment No. 18 to the Receivables Purchase Agreement, extending the facility expiration date to June 18, 2027.
2026-05-08 Shareholder vote results · SEC 8-K · routine
2026-04-22 Results of operations; Regulation FD disclosure · SEC 8-K
United Rentals reported total revenue of $3.985 billion and rental revenue of $3.419 billion for the first quarter of 2026, with rental revenue increasing 8.7% year-over-year.
2026-02-10 Regulation FD disclosure · SEC 8-K
United Rentals, Inc. announced that its executive management team will participate in Citi's 2026 Global Industrial Tech and Mobility Conference on February 17, 2026.

Balance sheet & ownership

From SEC filings; short interest is FINRA data via Yahoo. Collected 2026-10-26.

Cash & runway

Cash & equivalents

$153.0M

2026-09-30

Implied runway

—

operating cash flow positive over the TTM window

Dilution

weighted-average basic shares, per quarter. Change: -3.1% YoY.

Quarter	Shares
Q3 2024	66.0M
Q1 2025	65.3M
Q2 2025	64.9M
Q3 2025	64.2M
Q1 2026	62.9M
Q3 2026	62.2M

Shares outstanding: 61.9M (2026-10-19)

Insider transactions

Form 4 open-market trades (codes S/P), trailing 12 months. 48 filings parsed.

Sold by insiders

31.6K shares

$30.5M · 7 transactions

Bought by insiders

0 shares

0 transactions

Net direction

net selling

Catalyst calendar

management-stated targets — from the latest earnings call; plans, not promises.

this year

selling approximately $2.8 billion of fleet

Source quote
“The demand for used equipment remains strong, and we still expect to sell approximately $2.8 billion of fleet this year.”
the remainder of this year and into next year

momentum of growth from large projects

Source quote
“Large projects across a variety of end markets are driving our growth, and we expect this momentum will carry for the remainder of this year and into next year.”
prior to 26

team's performance and public discussion of results

Source quote
“We feel like the team's done a great job, you know, prior to 26, to be honest, and we talked about that publicly.”
2027

capital allocation strategy framework

Source quote
“It's really going to be that kind of framework, I think, certainly for 2027, to be a reasonable assumption that that's the framework we use to figure out that capital allocation strategy.”
January

update on growth opportunities and market density

Source quote
“So I think there'll be more opportunity and we'll update you guys in January.”