Why United Rentals Stock Jumped More Than 20% Today
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By Anders Bylund – Apr 23, 2026 at 4:02PM ESTKey PointsUnited Rentals stock jumped more than 20% after the company reported Q1 earnings well above Wall Street expectations.Data center construction remains a major growth driver, but other commercial projects and infrastructure upgrades are also helping.CEO Matt Flannery emphasized that demand extends well beyond data centers, with power-related projects growing at double digits.Shares of United Rentals (URI +22.92%) soared on Thursday, driven by a stellar earnings report. A peak gain of 23.7% showed up just before 1 p.m. ET. By 3:30 p.m., the industrial equipment rentals giant had cooled down slightly to a 21.7% price increase. Image source: Getty Images. The numbers behind the big jump In Q1 2026, United Rentals saw total revenues jump 7.2% year over year, landing at $4.0 billion. Strong rental sales led the way, outweighing flattish service revenues and lower sales of new gear. On the bottom line, adjusted earnings rose from $8.86 to $9.71 per share. That's a 9.6% increase. The average analyst would have settled for earnings near $8.95 per share on sales in the neighborhood of $3.9 billion. I'm looking at a strong profit surprise with a milder outperformance on the top line. Moreover, United Rentals offered a full-year revenue guidance range centered just above the current analyst consensus. ExpandNYSE: URIUnited RentalsToday's Change(22.92%) $183.99Current Price$986.78Key Data PointsMarket Cap$51BDay's Range$935.00 - $993.9652wk Range$605.43 - $1021.47Volume1.6MAvg Vol655KGross Margin35.44%Dividend Yield0.91% Data centers are doing the heavy lifting Management pinned most of the rental segment's activity on -- you guessed it -- data center construction. That's no surprise, of course. Technology companies spent $1 trillion on data center construction in 2025, according to research by The Motley Fool. This spending should rise to $4 trillion by the year 2030. That's good news for United Rentals, where many data center builders grab the equipment needed for large building projects. But that's not the whole story. Residential construction is lagging at the moment but commercial projects and infrastructure upgrades are thriving. "It is a lot broader than just data centers. Non-residential construction overall, even ex-data centers, is still really strong," CEO Matt Flannery said on the earnings call. "And power continues to grow at double digits." As a leading player in the industrial construction sector, United Rentals benefits massively from the data center boom. In all fairness, this growth driver is already priced into the stock after market-beating gains over the last three years. At this point, United Rentals stock comes with a pretty fair PEG ratio of 1.5 -- neither a bargain nor an obviously overpriced market darling.Read NextApr 23, 2026 •By Motley Fool TranscribingUnited Rentals (URI) Q4 2024 Earnings TranscriptApr 23, 2026 •By Motley Fool TranscribingUnited Rentals (URI) Q1 2026 Earnings TranscriptApr 22, 2026 •By Motley Fool TranscribingUnited Rentals (URI) Q3 2024 Earnings TranscriptApr 22, 2026 •By Motley Fool TranscribingUnited Rentals URI Q3 2025 Earnings TranscriptApr 22, 2026 •By Motley Fool TranscribingUnited Rentals URI Q2 2025 Earnings TranscriptApr 21, 2026 •By Motley Fool TranscribingUnited Rentals (URI) Q4 2025 Earnings TranscriptAbout the AuthorAnders Bylund is a contributing Motley Fool media and technology analyst covering semiconductors, cloud computing, internet infrastructure, quantum computing, and streaming media. Previously, Anders was a systems administrator for Nielsen Technology and CSX, gaining hands-on experience with enterprise-class systems. He was also a freelance writer for Ars Technica, TIME, USA Today, CNN, WIRED, and AOL's Daily Finance. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in library and information sciences from Florida State University. He believes in coyotes and time as an abstract.TMFZahrimX@TMFZahrimStocks MentionedUnited RentalsNYSE: URI$986.78(+22.92%)+$183.99*Average returns of all recommendations since inception. Cost basis and return based on previous market day close.