Herc Rentals posted $1,257 million in rental revenues during the third quarter of 2026 compared to $1,122 million in the third quarter of 2025, an 11.8-percent increase. The increase was driven by a slightly larger average fleet, an increase in volume on mega projects and acquisition revenue synergies. Total revenues for Q3 amounted to $1,364 million compared to $1,304 million in last year’s third quarter, a 4.6-percent increase.

Sales of rental equipment declined from $151 million in Q325 to $85 million in this year’s third quarter, a 43.7-percent decline. Sales of rental equipment decreased as disposal volume was elevated in the prior year to optimize the fleet after the H&E acquisition.  Adjusted EBITDA was $603 million, compared to $551 million in the year-ago quarter, a 9.4-percent year-over-year increase.

Dollar utilization was 43.5 percent in the third quarter up from 39.9 percent in the prior-year period, because of the increase in fleet efficiency and a favorable shift in mix to higher-return fleet on rent year-over-year.

“Our team delivered an exceptional third quarter, leveraging our scale, broad equipment offering, deep customer relationships and superior project execution to capitalize on accelerating customer demand,” said Larry Silber, CEO. “Equipment rental revenue increased 12 percent on an average OEC fleet that increased less than 2 percent, resulting in a 360 basis point improvement in dollar utilization. Expert fleet management drove high time utilization and disciplined fleet deployment, while pricing improvement and a higher specialty mix further enhanced fleet efficiency.

“The strong performance was led by robust mega-project volume and double-digit expansion in our specialty solutions business. Revenue synergies from H&E were an increasing contributor in the quarter, consistent with the second-half weighting we previously outlined, as new specialty branches continued to ramp and we advanced cross-selling, broader fleet access and national account penetration. Local-market demand remained stable.”

New opportunities in mega projects

“Growth in our large-project pipeline continues to exceed our expectations, with expanding opportunities across data centers, infrastructure, manufacturing facilities, and energy projects,” added Silber. “As a result, we are raising our full-year 2026 revenue, adjusted EBITDA and capex guidance for the second time this year, Our ability to serve these complex projects and deliver for our customers reflects our increased scale and ongoing technological innovation, as well as the hard work, expertise and dedication of Team Herc.”  

For the first nine months of 2026, Herc Rentals posted $3,707 million in revenues, compared to $3,167 million for the first nine months of 2025, a 17.1-percent increase. Equipment rental for the first nine months totaled $3,307 million in revenues, compared to $2,731 million in rental revenue for the first nine months of 2025, a 21.1-percent year-over-year hike.

Herc Rentals has raised its guidance. The previous guidance for equipment rental revenue was a range from $4.375 billion to $4.475 billion. The updated guidance is for a range from $4.475 billion to $4.550 billion. It also raised its adjusted EBITDA guidance from a previous range of between $2.05 billion to $2.125 billion to an updated range of $2.10 billion to $2.15 billion.

Based in Bonita Springs, Fla., Herc Rentals is No. 3 on the RER 100.