22.10.2026

New records for United

US rental company United Rentals has broken its records again, with nine month revenues increasing almost 12 percent to $13.3 billion, driven by a 13.3% increase in rental revenues.
YTD
Total revenues for the nine months to the end of September were $13.29 billion, an increase of 11.75% over the same period in 2025. All parts of the business contributed to the increase, including new and used equipment sales, but rental revenues jumped 13.3% to $11.58 billion.

Pre-tax profits bounced back from a dip last year, jumping 19% to $2.94 billion, due to revenues increasing faster than costs.

Third Quarter
Third quarter revenues increased 15.7% to $4.89 billion, with pre-tax profits soaring 31% to $1.23 billion.

Capex
Capital expenditure on rental equipment increased just over 26.2% on the same period last year to $4.75 billion.

The company has also increased its full-year capital expenditure forecasts to between $5.2 billion and $5.5 billion, which would represent a 25% to 30% hike on last year’s spend.

Full year forecast

United is forecasting record full-year revenues of $18 to $18.2 billion compared to the $17.5 to $17.8 billion it was projecting three months ago. This latest forecast would represent an increase from 2025 of 12% to 13% on 2025.

Chief executive Matthew Flannery said: “I am very pleased with our third quarter results, which are a testament to our strategy, our team’s dedication to our customers, and the unmatched breadth and scale of our premier offering. We continued to lean into growth across both our general rentals and speciality businesses, with the momentum from the first half of the year carrying through the quarter.”

“As we look ahead, we believe we are uniquely positioned to outperform the industry through our broad footprint, unmatched one stop shop offering, exceptional levels of service, leading technology and unwavering commitment to safety. Our raised guidance reflects this, and is supported by our customers’ confidence, their backlogs, and the momentum we see across large projects.”

Vertikal Comment

What can you say about this performance that hasn’t already been said. These numbers are truly mind boggling for an equipment rental business.

It would be interesting to see how much of this spike is coming from the massive data centre construction projects currently sweeping the USA, which are beginning to get planning approval kickback from local residents, and it is also hard to see how it can continue at this pace for too much longer –or can it?

At the moment, United seems to be riding a wave. Long may it last