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Here's How Much a $1000 Investment in United Rentals Made 10 Years Ago Would Be Worth Today

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How much a stock's price changes over time is a significant driver for most investors. Not only can price performance impact your portfolio, but it can help you compare investment results across sectors and industries as well.

FOMO, or the fear of missing out, also plays a role in investing, particularly with tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you'd invested in United Rentals (URI - Free Report) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to URI for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?

United Rentals' Business In-Depth

With that in mind, let's take a look at United Rentals' main business drivers.

Headquartered in Stamford, CT, United Rentals, Inc. is the largest equipment rental company in the world, with an integrated network of 1,165 rental locations in United States, Canada and Europe. Moreover, it operates in 49 states and every Canadian province. The company offers 4,000 classes of equipment for rent at a total original equipment cost (“OEC”) of $13.8 billion. The company’s customer base includes construction and industrial companies, utilities, municipalities, government agencies, independent contractors and homeowners and other individuals that use equipment for projects that range from simple repairs to major renovations. The company’s principal products and services are equipment rental, sale of rental equipment, new equipment, contractor supplies, services and other.

United Rentals serves its customers as a single-source solution, provided through two business segments: General Rentals and Trench, Power and Fluid Solutions.

General Rentals (accounted for 78.5% of total revenues in 2020) includes the rental of construction, aerial and industrial equipment, general tools and light equipment, along with related services and activities. The segment includes the rental of the following: i) general construction and industrial equipment ii) aerial work platforms and iii) general tools and light equipment. The general rentals segment caters to 11 geographic regions — Carolinas, Gulf South, Industrial (which serves the geographic Gulf region and has a strong industrial presence), Mid-Atlantic, Mid Central, Midwest, Northeast, Pacific West, South, Southeast and Western Canada — and operates throughout the United States and Canada.

Trench, Power and Fluid Solutions (21.5%) includes the rental of specialty construction products and related services like trench safety equipment, power and HVAC equipment and fluid solutions equipment.

Bottom Line

Putting together a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of research, patience, and a little bit of risk. For United Rentals, if you bought shares a decade ago, you're likely feeling really good about your investment today.

According to our calculations, a $1000 investment made in May 2011 would be worth $12,937.52, or a 1,193.75% gain, as of May 19, 2021. Investors should keep in mind that this return excludes dividends but includes price appreciation.

The S&P 500 rose 207.89% and the price of gold increased 20.18% over the same time frame in comparison.

Going forward, analysts are expecting more upside for URI.

United Rentals’ first-quarter 2021 earnings and revenues topped the respective Zacks Consensus Estimate by 11.3% and 2.4%. Results for the first quarter were driven by sequentially stronger rental volume and used equipment sales. Fleet productivity improved 330 basis points (bps) sequentially, depicting better fleet absorption. Its 2021 guidance indicates a return to positive equipment rental growth and fleet productivity in 2021, supported by improving customer sentiments & used equipment demand along with persistent share growth opportunities for certain nonresidential verticals including power, healthcare, distribution, and technology. Shares of United Rentals have outperformed the industry year to date. However, slowdown in upstream oil and gas operations is a cause of concern.

Over the past four weeks, shares have rallied 6.63%, and there have been 10 higher earnings estimate revisions in the past two months for fiscal 2021 compared to none lower. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.

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