United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE: URI) today announced financial results for the third quarter of 2023 and reaffirmed its full-year 2023 guidance.

Third Quarter 2023 Highlights

• Total revenue of $3.765 billion, including rental revenue¹ of $3.224 billion.
• Net income of $703 million, at a margin² of 18.7%. GAAP diluted earnings per share of $10.29, and adjusted EPS³ of $11.73.
• Adjusted EBITDA³ of $1.850 billion, at a margin² of 49.1%.
• Year-over-year, fleet productivity⁴ decreased 2.2% as reported and increased 1.5% on a pro forma⁴ basis.
• Year-to-date net cash provided by operating activities of $3.290 billion; free cash flow³ of $1.157 billion, including gross rental capital spending of $3.078 billion.
• Returned $1.055 billion to shareholders year-to-date, comprised of $750 million via share repurchases and $305 million via dividends paid.
• Net leverage ratio⁵ of 1.8x, with total liquidity⁵ of $2.685 billion, at September 30, 2023.

CEO Comment

Matthew Flannery, chief executive officer of United Rentals, said, “I’m very pleased with our third-quarter results across growth, profitability and returns, which were underpinned by broad-based activity. Our ability to provide our customers with a highly-differentiated value proposition, led by safety and productivity, is enabling us to outpace the broader industry and create value for our investors.”

Flannery continued, “Our full-year guidance speaks to the continued strength of our markets. Looking beyond 2023, we believe that our strategy positions us well to support our customers as they execute on the tailwinds we see across infrastructure, industrial manufacturing, and energy and power. Combined, these support our goals for profitable growth, strong cash flow, and attractive returns for our shareholders.”

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2023 Outlook

The company has reaffirmed its 2023 outlook. Certain ranges have narrowed, as shown below.

Summary of Third Quarter 2023 Financial Results

• Rental revenue increased 18.0% year-over-year to a third quarter record of $3.224 billion, reflecting broad-based strength of demand across the company's end-markets and the impact of the Ahern Rentals acquisition. Consistent with the second quarter, fleet productivity declined 2.2% year-over-year, while average original equipment at cost (“OEC”) increased 22.2%. On a pro forma basis, rental revenue increased 9.8% year-over-year, supported by a 10.2% increase in average OEC and a 1.5% increase in fleet productivity, which was also consistent with last quarter.
• Used equipment sales in the quarter increased 102.2% year-over-year, primarily reflecting the normalization of volumes and the impact of the Ahern Rentals acquisition. Used equipment sales generated $366 million of proceeds at a GAAP gross margin of 49.5% and an adjusted gross margin⁷ of 55.2% compared to $181 million at a GAAP gross margin of 61.9% and an adjusted gross margin of 64.6% for the same period last year. The year-over-year declines in the GAAP and adjusted gross margins primarily reflect the expected normalization of channel mix, including the expanded use of wholesale channels, and the impact of sales of equipment acquired in the Ahern Rentals acquisition. Average fleet age declined to 51.6 months as of September 30, 2023.
• Net income for the quarter increased 16.0% year-over-year to a third quarter record of $703 million, while net income margin declined 120 basis points to 18.7%. On a pro forma basis, third quarter net income margin expanded 20 basis points. The decrease in the company's reported net income margin was primarily driven by the impact of the Ahern Rentals acquisition on rental and used equipment gross margins, and higher interest expense, partially offset by reductions in selling, general and administrative ("SG&A") and income tax expenses as a percentage of revenue.
• Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter increased 21.6% year-over-year to a third quarter record of $1.850 billion, while adjusted EBITDA margin decreased 80 basis points to 49.1%. On a pro forma basis, third quarter adjusted EBITDA margin increased 20 basis points year-over-year, including the impact of ongoing integration costs. The decrease in the company's reported adjusted EBITDA margin primarily reflected the impact of Ahern Rentals on gross margin from rental revenue (excluding depreciation and stock compensation expense) and adjusted gross margin from used equipment sales, partially offset by reduced SG&A expense as a percentage of revenue.

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• General rentals segment rental revenue increased 18.8% year-over-year, including the impact of the Ahern Rentals acquisition, to a third quarter record of $2.307 billion. On a pro forma basis, third quarter rental revenue for general rentals increased 7.6% year-over-year. Rental gross margin decreased by 320 basis points year-over-year to 37.8%, primarily due to the impact of the Ahern Rentals acquisition. On a pro forma basis, third quarter rental gross margin declined 140 basis points year-over-year due primarily to the impact of higher depreciation expense related to the Ahern Rentals acquisition.
• Specialty rentals segment rental revenue increased 16.1% year-over-year to a third quarter record of $917 million. Rental gross margin of 52.1% was largely flat year-over-year.
• Cash flow from operating activities increased 3.4% year-over-year to $3.290 billion for the first nine months of 2023, and free cash flow, including merger and restructuring related payments, increased 1.5%, from $1.140 billion to $1.157 billion. Net rental capital expenditures increased $42 million year-over-year.
• Capital management. The company's net leverage ratio was 1.8x at September 30, 2023, as compared to 2.0x at December 31, 2022. Year-to-date through September 30, 2023, the company repurchased $750 million⁸ of common stock under its $1.25 billion⁸ share repurchase program and paid dividends totaling $305 million. It remains the company's intention to repurchase $1.0 billion⁸ of common stock during 2023. Additionally, the company's Board of Directors has declared a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, payable on November 22, 2023 to stockholders of record on November 8, 2023.
• Total liquidity was $2.685 billion as of September 30, 2023, including $284 million of cash and cash equivalents.
• Return on invested capital (ROIC)⁹ increased 150 basis points year-over-year, and 30 basis points sequentially, to a record 13.7% for the 12 months ended September 30, 2023. The year-over-year and sequential improvements primarily reflect increased after-tax operating income.

Conference Call

United Rentals will hold a conference call tomorrow, Thursday, October 26, 2023, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. The conference call number is 800-420-1271 (international: 785-424-1222). The replay number for the call is 402-220-2572. The passcode for both the conference call and replay is 70041. The conference call will also be available live by audio webcast at unitedrentals.com, where it will be archived until the next earnings call.

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Non-GAAP Measures

Free cash flow, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted earnings per share (adjusted EPS) are non-GAAP financial measures as defined under the rules of the SEC. Free cash flow represents net cash provided by operating activities less purchases of, and plus proceeds from, equipment and intangible assets. The equipment and intangible asset purchases and proceeds represent cash flows from investing activities. EBITDA represents the sum of net income, provision for income taxes, interest expense, net, depreciation of rental equipment and non-rental depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA represents EBITDA plus the sum of the restructuring charges, stock compensation expense, net, and the impact of the fair value mark-up of acquired fleet. Adjusted EPS represents EPS plus the sum of the restructuring charges, the impact on depreciation related to acquired fleet and property and equipment, the impact of the fair value mark-up of acquired fleet, merger related intangible asset amortization, asset impairment charge and loss on repurchase/redemption of debt securities. The company believes that: (i) free cash flow provides useful additional information concerning cash flow available to meet future debt service obligations and working capital requirements; (ii) EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA provide useful information about operating performance and period-over-period growth, and help investors gain an understanding of the factors and trends affecting our ongoing cash earnings, from which capital investments are made and debt is serviced; and (iii) adjusted EPS provides useful information concerning future profitability. However, none of these measures should be considered as alternatives to net income, cash flows from operating activities or earnings per share under GAAP as indicators of operating performance or liquidity. See the tables below for further discussion of these non-GAAP measures.

Information reconciling forward-looking adjusted EBITDA to GAAP financial measures is unavailable to the company without unreasonable effort. The company is not able to provide reconciliations of adjusted EBITDA to GAAP financial measures because certain items required for such reconciliations are outside of the company’s control and/or cannot be reasonably predicted, such as the provision for income taxes. Preparation of such reconciliations would require a forward-looking balance sheet, statement of income and statement of cash flow, prepared in accordance with GAAP, and such forward-looking financial statements are unavailable to the company without unreasonable effort (as specified in the exception provided by Item 10(e)(1)(i)(B) of Regulation S-K). The company provides a range for its adjusted EBITDA forecast that it believes will be achieved, however it cannot accurately predict all the components of the adjusted EBITDA calculation. The company provides an adjusted EBITDA forecast because it believes that adjusted EBITDA, when viewed with the company’s results under GAAP, provides useful information for the reasons noted above. However, adjusted EBITDA is not a measure of financial performance or liquidity under GAAP and, accordingly, should not be considered as an alternative to net income or cash flow from operating activities as an indicator of operating performance or liquidity.

About United Rentals

United Rentals, Inc. is the largest equipment rental company in the world. The company has an integrated network of 1,500 rental locations in North America, 15 in Europe, 23 in Australia and 19 in New Zealand. In North America, the company operates in 49 states and every Canadian province. The company’s approximately 25,900 employees serve construction and industrial customers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners and others. The company offers approximately 4,800 classes of equipment for rent with a total original cost of $20.98 billion. United Rentals is a member of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, the Barron’s 400 Index and the Russell 3000 Index® and is headquartered in Stamford, Conn. Additional information about United Rentals is available at unitedrentals.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, known as the PSLRA. These statements can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “believe,” “expect,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “seek,” “on-track,” “plan,” “project,” “forecast,” “intend” or “anticipate,” or the negative thereof or comparable terminology, or by discussions of vision, strategy or outlook. These statements are based on current plans, estimates and projections, and, therefore, you should not place undue reliance on them. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed, and actual results may differ materially from those projected. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected include, but are not limited to, the following: (1) the impact of global economic conditions (including inflation, increased interest rates, supply chain constraints, potential trade wars and sanctions and other measures imposed in response to international conflicts) and public health crises and epidemics on us, our customers and our suppliers, in the United States and the rest of the world; (2) declines in construction or industrial activity, which can adversely impact our revenues and, because many of our costs are fixed, our profitability; (3) rates we charge and time utilization we achieve being less than anticipated; (4) changes in customer, fleet, geographic and segment mix; (5) excess fleet in the equipment rental industry; (6) inability to benefit from government spending, including spending associated with infrastructure projects; (7) trends in oil and natural gas, including significant increases in the prices of oil or natural gas, could adversely affect the demand for our services and products; (8) competition from existing and new competitors; (9) the cyclical nature of the industry in which we operate and the industries of our customers, such as those in the construction industry; (10) costs we incur being more than anticipated, including as a result of inflation, and the inability to realize expected savings in the amounts or time frames planned; (11) our significant indebtedness, which requires us to use a substantial portion of our cash flow for debt service and can constrain our flexibility in responding to unanticipated or adverse business conditions; (12) inability to refinance our indebtedness on terms that are favorable to us, including as a result of volatility and uncertainty in capital or credit markets or increases in interest rates, or at all; (13) incurrence of additional debt, which could exacerbate the risks associated with our current level of indebtedness; (14) noncompliance with financial or other covenants in our debt agreements, which could result in our lenders terminating the agreements and requiring us to repay outstanding borrowings; (15) restrictive covenants and the amount of borrowings permitted under our debt instruments, which can limit our financial and operational flexibility; (16) inability to access the capital that our businesses or growth plans may require, including as a result of uncertainty in capital or credit markets; (17) the possibility that companies that we have acquired or may acquire could have undiscovered liabilities, or that companies or assets that we have acquired or may acquire could involve other unexpected costs, may strain our management capabilities, or may be difficult to integrate, and that we may not realize the expected benefits from an acquisition over the timeframe we expect, or at all; (18) incurrence of impairment charges; (19) fluctuations in the price of our common stock and inability to complete stock repurchases or pay dividends in the time frames and/or on the terms anticipated; (20) our charter provisions as well as provisions of certain debt agreements and our significant indebtedness may have the effect of making more difficult or otherwise discouraging, delaying or deterring a takeover or other change of control of us; (21) inability to manage credit risk adequately or to collect on contracts with a large number of customers; (22) turnover in our management team and inability to attract and retain key personnel, as well as loss, absenteeism or the inability of employees to work or perform key functions in light of public health crises or epidemics; (23) inability to obtain equipment and other supplies for our business from our key suppliers on acceptable terms or at all, as a result of supply chain disruptions, insolvency, financial difficulties or other factors; (24) increases in our maintenance and replacement costs and/or decreases in the residual value of our equipment; (25) inability to sell our new or used fleet in the amounts, or at the prices, we expect; (26) risks related to security breaches, cybersecurity attacks, failure to protect personal information, compliance with data protection and cyber incident reporting laws and regulations, and other significant disruptions in our information technology systems; (27) risks related to climate change and climate change regulation; (28) risks related to our ability to meet our environmental and social goals, including our greenhouse gas intensity reduction goal; (29) the fact that our holding company structure requires us to depend in part on distributions from subsidiaries and such distributions could be limited by contractual or legal restrictions; (30) shortfalls in our insurance coverage; (31) increases in our loss reserves to address business operations or other claims and any claims that exceed our established levels of reserves; (32) incurrence of additional expenses (including indemnification obligations) and other costs in connection with litigation, regulatory and investigatory matters; (33) the costs of complying with environmental, safety and foreign laws and regulations, as well as other risks associated with non-U.S. operations, including currency exchange risk, and tariffs; (34) the outcome or other potential consequences of regulatory matters and commercial litigation; (35) labor shortages and/or disputes, work stoppages or other labor difficulties, which may impact our productivity and increase our costs, and changes in law that could affect our labor relations or operations generally; and (36) the effect of changes in tax law.

For a more complete description of these and other possible risks and uncertainties, please refer to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, as well as to our subsequent filings with the SEC. The forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date hereof, and we make no commitment to update or publicly release any revisions to forward-looking statements in order to reflect new information or subsequent events, circumstances or changes in expectations.

UNITED RENTALS, INC.

RENTAL REVENUE

Fleet productivity is a comprehensive metric that provides greater insight into the decisions made by our managers in support of growth and returns. Specifically, we seek to optimize the interplay of rental rates, time utilization and mix in driving rental revenue. Fleet productivity aggregates, in one metric, the impact of changes in rates, utilization and mix on owned equipment rental revenue.

We believe that this metric is useful in assessing the effectiveness of our decisions on rates, time utilization and mix, particularly as they support the creation of shareholder value. The table below shows the components of the year-over-year change in rental revenue using the fleet productivity methodology:

Please refer to our Third Quarter 2023 Investor Presentation for additional detail on fleet productivity.

UNITED RENTALS, INC.

SEGMENT PERFORMANCE

($ in millions)

Segment equipment rentals revenue, gross profit and gross margin are presented in the tables below. We completed the acquisition of Ahern Rentals in December 2022. The pro forma information includes the standalone, pre-acquisition results of Ahern Rentals.

UNITED RENTALS, INC.

ADJUSTED EARNINGS PER SHARE GAAP RECONCILIATION

We define “earnings per share – adjusted” as the sum of earnings per share – GAAP, as-reported plus the impact of the following special items: merger related intangible asset amortization, impact on depreciation related to acquired fleet and property and equipment, impact of the fair value mark-up of acquired fleet, restructuring charge, asset impairment charge and loss on repurchase/redemption of debt securities. See below for further detail on each special item. Management believes that earnings per share - adjusted provides useful information concerning future profitability. However, earnings per share - adjusted is not a measure of financial performance under GAAP. Accordingly, earnings per share - adjusted should not be considered an alternative to GAAP earnings per share. The table below provides a reconciliation between earnings per share – GAAP, as-reported, and earnings per share – adjusted.

UNITED RENTALS, INC.

EBITDA AND ADJUSTED EBITDA GAAP RECONCILIATIONS

($ in millions, except footnotes)

EBITDA represents the sum of net income, provision for income taxes, interest expense, net, depreciation of rental equipment, and non-rental depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA represents EBITDA plus the sum of the restructuring charges, stock compensation expense, net, and the impact of the fair value mark-up of acquired fleet. See below for further detail on each adjusting item. These items are excluded from adjusted EBITDA internally when evaluating our operating performance and for strategic planning and forecasting purposes, and allow investors to make a more meaningful comparison between our core business operating results over different periods of time, as well as with those of other similar companies. The net income and adjusted EBITDA margins represent net income or adjusted EBITDA divided by total revenue. Management believes that EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA, when viewed with the company’s results under GAAP and the accompanying reconciliation, provide useful information about operating performance and period-over-period growth, and provide additional information that is useful for evaluating the operating performance of our core business without regard to potential distortions. Additionally, management believes that EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA help investors gain an understanding of the factors and trends affecting our ongoing cash earnings, from which capital investments are made and debt is serviced.

The table below provides a reconciliation between net income and EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA.

UNITED RENTALS, INC.

EBITDA AND ADJUSTED EBITDA GAAP RECONCILIATIONS (continued)

(In millions, except footnotes)

The table below provides a reconciliation between net cash provided by operating activities and EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA.

UNITED RENTALS, INC.

EBITDA AND ADJUSTED EBITDA GAAP RECONCILIATIONS (continued)

($ in millions, except footnotes)

The pro forma information below reflects the combination of United Rentals and Ahern Rentals. Prior to the acquisition, Ahern Rentals management used different EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA definitions than those used by United Rentals. The information below reflects the historical information for Ahern Rentals presented in accordance with United Rentals’ definitions of EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA. See below for further detail on each adjusting item. The management of Ahern Rentals historically did not view EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA as liquidity measures, and accordingly the information required to reconcile these measures to the statement of cash flows is unavailable to the company. The table below provides a calculation of as-reported and pro forma net income and EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA.

UNITED RENTALS, INC.

FREE CASH FLOW GAAP RECONCILIATION

(In millions, except footnotes)

We define “free cash flow” as net cash provided by operating activities less purchases of, and plus proceeds from, equipment and intangible assets. The equipment and intangible asset purchases and proceeds are included in cash flows from investing activities. Management believes that free cash flow provides useful additional information concerning cash flow available to meet future debt service obligations and working capital requirements. However, free cash flow is not a measure of financial performance or liquidity under GAAP. Accordingly, free cash flow should not be considered an alternative to net income or cash flow from operating activities as an indicator of operating performance or liquidity. The table below provides a reconciliation between net cash provided by operating activities and free cash flow.