Jana Partners Acquires 6 Percent Stake in United Rentals

Activist investor Jana Partners LLC has acquired a 6-percent ownership stake in United Rentals, according to Reuters and other sources.
June 12, 2015

Activist investor Jana Partners LLC has acquired a 6-percent ownership stake in United Rentals, according to Reuters and other sources. The investment by Jana Partners triggered an increase in investment support of United Rentals, whose stock had declined in recent weeks.

A partner at Jana told the 2015 Carter Burden Investment Conference that investors, concerned about oil price declines, were over-reacting. The partner, Nik Mittal, noted that United Rentals is run by “a great CEO” and that the company has “notable strengths” that will have a greater impact than any weaknesses.

Analysts from TheStreet noted that United Rentals’ current return on equity greatly increased compared with its ROE from the first quarter a year ago, a signal of significant strength within the company.

Jana Partners estimated that United’s revenues will grow at least 5 percent in 2015 and 6 percent in 2016.

United Rentals, based in Stamford, Conn., is No. 1 on the RER 100.

About the Author

Michael Roth

Editor

Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.

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