United Rentals, Inc.

Q3 total revenue was $4.9 billion, up 16% year over year. Rental revenue was over $4.3 billion, up 17.8% year over year. Adjusted EBITDA was a record over $2.3 billion, with margin of 47.6%, up 160 basis points year over year. Adjusted EPS was $15.55, up 33% year over year. OER increased 12.9%, supported by fleet productivity of 6.5%; specialty rental revenue grew 35% year over year. The company sold $677 million of OEC at a 51.4% recovery rate and generated $348 million of proceeds at a 46.3% adjusted margin. Gross rental CapEx was $1.8 billion in the quarter and $4.7 billion year to date; year-to-date free cash flow exceeded $1.4 billion. Full-year 2026 guidance was raised: total revenue is expected at $18 billion-$18.2 billion, adjusted EBITDA at $8.3 billion-$8.4 billion, gross CapEx at $5.2 billion-$5.5 billion, and free cash flow at $2.15 billion-$2.45 billion. Used sales are still expected at about $1.45 billion for the year, and the company reiterated roughly $2.8 billion of OEC sales with a low-50s recovery rate. Management also said it still intends to repurchase $1.5 billion of shares in 2026 and expects total capital returned with the dividend to be roughly $2 billion.

Matt Flannery struck an upbeat tone, saying the business is performing better than expected and that large projects across multiple end markets are driving growth. He emphasized United Rentals’ broad footprint, one-stop-shop offering, service, technology, and safety as the basis for outperforming the industry. He also said the company sees momentum carrying through the rest of this year and into next year, with demand and customer confidence supporting the revised outlook.

Ted Grace highlighted quarterly records for revenue, EBITDA, and EPS, and said the company exceeded its raised expectations from last quarter. He noted that EBITDA increased by $385 million, driven mainly by a $417 million rise in rental gross profit, while SG&A rose $54 million and margins still expanded to 47.6%. On the balance sheet, net leverage was 1.8x with total liquidity of over $2.6 billion, and the company returned roughly $1.5 billion to shareholders through the third quarter, including $1.125 billion of repurchases and $371 million of dividends. He said investment-grade status should lower future borrowing costs over time, but does not change the company’s capital allocation framework.

Analysts focused on whether margin gains are sustainable, how much further rental rates can rise, and whether high fleet utilization implies more CapEx and/or better pricing power. Management said rate has been climbing and should continue next year, and that the company is managing rate and time utilization throughout the year, not around a specific renewal cycle. On CapEx and supply, management said the industry has shown good discipline and that United Rentals has strong OEM relationships and flexibility to access equipment. Questions also centered on local market improvement, specialty cold starts, and re-rent/ancillary growth; management said local markets are stable but still secondary to mega projects, specialty still has white space, and re-rent is largely a sign of strong demand and high utilization rather than a separate strategic target.