Equipment rental company United Rentals Inc. (URI), Tuesday reported an increase in profit for the first quarter, driven mainly by increase in rental revenues. Earnings for the quarter came in ahead of analysts' expectations, but revenues fell short of estimates.
Greenwich, Connecticut-based United Rentals first-quarter profit rose to $21 million or $0.19 per share from $13 million or $0.17 per share in the same period last year.
Adjusted earnings improved to $0.58 per share from $0.36 per share last year. On average, 13 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.48 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Revenues for the quarter grew to $1.10 billion from $656 million last year., but were short of analysts' consensus estimate of $1.11 billion.
Rental revenues improved to $916 million from $523 million, while sales of rental equipment increased to $123 million from $76 million a year ago. Within rental revenues, owned equipment rental revenues increased 7.3 percent, reflecting year-over-year increases of 5.8 percent in the volume of equipment on rent and 5.4 percent in rental rates.
Going forward, Chief Executive Michael Kneeland said, "We feel confident that our full year performance will meet our outlook and give us even greater earning power going into the next several years."
URI closed Tuesday's trading at $52.21, up $1.32 or 2.59%, on the NYSE. The stock however slipped $1.91 or 3.66% in after hours trade.
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