United Rentals Enjoys Big Third Quarter Jumps
United Rentals posted $4.893 billion in third quarter 2026 total revenue compared to $4.229 billion in total revenue for third quarter 2025, a 15.7-percent increase. Equipment rentals jumped from $3.665 billion in the third quarter of 2025 to $4.316 billion in third quarter 2026, an even better 17.8-percent hike.
Sales of rental equipment was $348 million in Q326 compared to $333 million in Q325, a 4.5-percent increase, while sales of new equipment declined from $95 million a year ago to $84 million in the recently concluded frame, an 11.6-percent decline. Contractor supplies sales increased from $43 million to $47 million, a 9.3-percent increase. Service and other revenues increased from $93 million to $98 million, a 5.4-percent hike.
“I’m 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,” said Matthew Flannery, United Rentals CEO. “We continued to lean into growth across both our general rentals and specialty 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. I am very proud of the company we continue to build, underpinned by a well-proven strategy of supporting our customers while also driving profitable growth and strong through-cycle free cash flow generation. Combined with prudent capital allocation, this will continue to deliver compelling long-term value for our shareholders.”
Strong demand
United Rentals attributed its 17.8-percent rental revenue increase in large part to a 7.9-percent increase in average original equipment at cost, strong demand as reflected in a 6.5 percent increase in fleet productivity, and a 4.9-percent contribution from ancillary and re-rent revenue.
For the first nine months of 2026, United Rentals totaled $13.288 billion compared to $11.891 billion in the first nine months of 2025, an 11.7-percent increase. Rental revenue for the first nine months of 2026 reached $11.584 billion compared to $10.225 billion a year ago, for a 13.3-percent jump.
The general rental portion of the business totaled $2.612 billion in equipment rental revenue in the third quarter of 2026 compared to $2.400 billion in the third quarter of 2025, an 8.8-percent increase. Specialty rental segment reached $1.704 billion in the third quarter, compared to $1.265 billion in the third quarter of 2025, a remarkable 34.7 percent.
United Rentals is still based in Stamford, Conn., and remains 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.