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    UNITED RENTALS (URI)

    Q1 2024 Earnings Summary

    Reported on Jan 10, 2025 (After Market Close)
    Pre-Earnings Price$690.92Last close (Apr 25, 2024)
    Post-Earnings Price$685.28Open (Apr 26, 2024)
    Price Change
    $-5.64(-0.82%)
    • United Rentals anticipates positive fleet productivity in each quarter of 2024, supported by a constructive rate environment and industry discipline
    • The company expects to double the size of the Yak business within the next five years, indicating significant growth potential from the recent acquisition, with returns well above the hurdle rate
    • United Rentals is experiencing double-digit growth across all lines of its Specialty business, with plans to continue expanding its product offerings and seeing significant opportunities for growth in areas such as mobile storage and rental equipment. 
    • The company's recent acquisition of Yak involves assets with shorter useful lives and higher depreciation compared to their base business, which could negatively impact returns unless they successfully extend asset lifespans.
    • Management acknowledges expected slower growth in their General Rental segment, focusing instead on specialty segments, which may indicate challenges in their core business.
    • The company lacks a defined plan or budget for M&A, potentially leading to uncertainties in strategic growth initiatives and capital deployment over the next 12-18 months.
    1. CapEx Guidance and Yak Acquisition Impact
      Q: Any changes in CapEx plans due to Yak deal?
      A: CapEx was in line with expectations and not designed to temper spending. They reaffirmed and even increased their guidance, adding $100 million for the Yak deal. There are no changes in CapEx thinking, and they don't feel at all like they're going to reduce CapEx plans.

    2. M&A Pipeline and Capital Deployment
      Q: What's the outlook for M&A spending ahead?
      A: They don't set targets or budgets for M&A but are opportunistic with a robust pipeline. They lean towards opportunities like the Yak deal, aiming to add new products they can significantly grow within their network. While nothing is imminent, they continue to work the pipeline and will act when they find the right partner that meets their strategic and financial criteria.

    3. Yak Access Returns and Growth Plans
      Q: How will Yak reach URI-level returns?
      A: After extensive modeling, they feel confident about the opportunity with Yak Access. There's potential to lengthen the asset life of mats, enhancing returns, but even without that, they comfortably clear their hurdle rates. They believe they can double the size of the Yak business in the next five years, similar to their success with the General Finance deal. Margins are strong, and the team is experienced.

    4. Expansion into New Categories
      Q: How much larger can category expansion get?
      A: They view anything temporary on a project or plant as an opportunity and continue to expand offerings to solve customer needs. They've added new products across existing businesses, like more power in HVAC or spot coolers, and focus on their one-stop shop value proposition. While they don't publicly discuss potential new products for competitive reasons, they see significant opportunity to leverage their model and fuel growth.

    5. Fleet Productivity and Rate Environment
      Q: Were there big moves in fleet productivity drivers?
      A: Fleet productivity played out as expected, with positive results each quarter. Time utilization was neutral and consistent with expectations. They see a constructive rate environment and industry discipline, with rate helping to overcome inflationary issues. A small improvement came from the Yak acquisition, which will contribute more as the year progresses.

    6. Growth in Power Generation Vertical
      Q: How is power generation business developing?
      A: They've focused on the power generation vertical since 2016, and it's now over 10% of their business. They engage in traditional power, alternative power, and data centers, anticipating ongoing growth driven by transmission work and grid expansion related to electrification, especially in the EV space. They believe this growth will extend well beyond 2024.

    7. GenRent Equipment Rental Moderation
      Q: Why did GenRent rental moderate this quarter?
      A: Slower growth in GenRent was expected, as the specialty business has greater headroom and opportunities to cross-sell into large projects. They achieved double-digit growth in every specialty segment. In GenRent, there was more dispersal than historically, but they strategically placed fleet where opportunities were best, driven by large projects, contributing to good fleet productivity.

    8. Regional Impacts and Weather
      Q: Did weather impact regional performance?
      A: While some markets were more impacted than others, there was nothing significant to call out. Diversification by product and geography mitigated any regional issues, and the year played out as expected with no weather constraints affecting performance.

    Research analysts covering UNITED RENTALS.