United Rentals’ First Quarter 2026 Rental Revenue Jumps 8.7 Percent; Total Revenue Climbs 7.2 Percent
United Rentals posted $3.985 billion in total revenue in the first quarter of 2026 compared to $3.719 billion in the first quarter of 2025, a 7.2-percent increase. Equipment rental revenue totaled $3.419 billion in Q1 2026, compared to $3.145 billion a year ago, an 8.7-percent hike.
Sales of new equipment increased from $70 million to $84 million, a 20-percent increase. Sales of used equipment dropped from $377 million in the first quarter last year to $350 million in the recently concluded quarter, a 7.2-percent dip.
The general rental segment reported $2.229 billion in revenue compared to $2.099 billion a year ago, a 6.2-percent upswing. Once again, the specialty rental segment was the big winner, jumping from $1.046 billion in last year’s first quarter to $1.190 billion this year, a 13.8-percent leap.
EBITDA upswing
Adjusted EBITDA was $1.759 billion, at a margin of 44.1 percent, which reflects a year-over-year increase of 60 basis points excluding the 2025 impact of the H&E merger termination benefit. Year-over-year fleet productivity increased 2.3 percent.
“I am very pleased with our strong start to 2026, which again reflected our team’s commitment to being the partner of choice for our customers,” said United Rentals CEO Matt Flannery. “We reported first-quarter records in EPS, adjusted EBITDA and revenue, supported by healthy growth and solid execution across both our general rentals and specialty businesses. We remain confident that our focus on improving our customers’ efficiency and productivity through our one-stop-shop approach, coupled with our industry-leading technology and world-class service, keeps us positioned to both outperform the market and generate strong shareholder returns.
“The increases to our full-year guidance are supported by the momentum we are carrying into our busy season and the growth opportunities our customers see on the horizon, particularly within large projects and key verticals. Longer-term, the flexibility and resiliency of our business model, combined with the strength of our balance sheet and approach to prudent capital allocation, positions us to deliver industry-leading growth, profitability and cash generation, which support shareholder value creation.”
United increased its guidance, expecting total revenue in 2026 to be within the range of $16.9 billion and $17.4 billion.
The company has an integrated network of 1,658 rental locations in North America, 44 in Europe, 46 in Australia and 19 in New Zealand. In North America, the company operates in 49 states and every Canadian province. United Rentals, headquartered in Stamford, Conn., continues to be 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.