United Rentals Upbeat Despite Q3 Profit Inching Lower
Equipment Rental Specialist Eyes 2026 Upside, M&A Options
Key Takeaways:
- United Rentals reported Q3 2025 net income of $701 million, down 1% from a year earlier, as costs rose faster than revenue.
- Revenue increased 5.9% to $4.23 billion while operating margin fell to 16.6%, prompting the company to raise full-year guidance to as much as $16.2 billion.
- Executives said demand remains strong across construction and industrial sectors and expect growth and potential acquisitions to continue into 2026.
[Stay on top of transportation news: .]
United Rentals profit nudged lower in the third quarter of 2025 as , but executives said 2025 is turning out better than expected, and the prospects for 2026 bode well.
Stamford, Conn.-based United, which ranks No. 11 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest private carriers in North America, posted net income of $701 million in Q3, a decrease of 1% compared with $708 million in the year-ago quarter.
Equipment rental specialist United reported revenue of $4.23 billion in the most recent three-month period, an increase of 5.9% compared with $3.99 billion in Q3 2024. Rental revenue increased 5.8% year over year to $3.67 billion from $3.46 billion.
However, costs increased 9.4% year over year to $2.56 billion from $2.34 billion in the same period 12 months earlier.
United posted an operating margin of 16.6%, down from 17.7% a year earlier.
The company said the decline in margin was largely driven by inflation, higher delivery costs and a depreciation expense at its specialty rentals unit.
As a result of 2025 outstripping expectations, United raised its full-year earnings guidance. The company now expects revenue to total $16 billion to $16.2 billion, compared with previous guidance of $15.8 billion to $16.1 billion.
“The year is playing out better than we originally expected, and our updated guidance reflects the demand environment we continue to successfully serve. In short, our unique value proposition, experience and ability to support a broad range of our customers’ needs distinguishes us from the competition,” CEO Matthew Flannery said during the company’s quarterly earnings call.
“By vertical, our construction end market saw strong growth across both infrastructure and nonresidential construction, while our industrial end market saw particular strength within power. We continue to see new projects kicking off, and while data centers are certainly one area of growth, we also saw new projects across infrastructure, semis, hospitals, LNG facilities and airports, to name just a few,” he added.
Demand for used equipment is also healthy, United said.
“We sold $619 million of [original equipment cost] at a recovery rate of 54%. The demand for used equipment is healthy, and we’re on track to sell approximately $2.8 billion of fleet this year,” Flannery told investors and analysts.
Looking forward to 2026, Flannery expects the rental market to thrive. “From where I sit today, I expect this momentum to carry into 2026,” he said.
“We are encouraged by the growth opportunities our customers see on the horizon, particularly within large projects and across key verticals,” he said during the Oct. 23 investor call.
A flourishing of customer appetite could also lead to United growing via acquisition to meet those needs, the company’s top executive said.
“Our leverage of less than 1.9 times leaves plenty of dry powder to support disciplined M&A, where we continue to pursue opportunities to put capital to work and attractive returns. Our M&A pipeline remains robust within both general rental and specialty and across a spectrum of deal sizes,” he said.
“While it’s difficult to predict the timing of M&A, this is an important capability we’ve built over our company’s history, and we’ll continue to use it to enhance our business and drive shareholder value,” he added.
United tried to pull off a blockbuster merger with construction equipment supplier H&E Equipment Services at the start of 2025 but was outbid by Herc Rentals.
Want more news? Listen to today's daily briefing below or go here for more info:
