URI Drives 90%+ of Growth Organically: Is M&A Still a Key Catalyst?

United Rentals, Inc.’s URI growth story is currently being powered overwhelmingly by organic expansion, but mergers and acquisitions remain an important component of its longer-term strategy. Management noted on the second-quarter earnings call that roughly 90%+ of the company’s current growth is organic. At the same time, CEO Matthew Flannery described the acquisition pipeline as robust and said URI continues to evaluate opportunities of different sizes, particularly those that can add products or strengthen specialty offerings.

The strength of the organic business was evident in the second quarter of 2026. Rental revenues increased 12.7% year over year to a quarterly record of $3.85 billion, supported by a 7.1% increase in average fleet size and 3.4% fleet productivity. Specialty rental revenues climbed 24.8% to $1.43 billion, compared with 6.6% growth in General Rentals. Specialty could also remain a focus for future acquisitions. The business accounted for roughly 37% of United Rentals’ total revenues in 2025, up from 16% in 2015, while specialty revenues recorded a 20.2% CAGR over the 2015-2025 period.

Still, strong organic growth does not make acquisitions irrelevant. M&A has historically helped United Rentals broaden both its geographic reach and product portfolio. The company cited the 2024 acquisition of Yak as an example of expanding adjacent specialty offerings, while the acquisition of Ahern Rentals in 2022 strengthened its core rental operations. URI continues to characterize strategic acquisitions as a way to expand the business and support its broader strategic objectives. With net leverage at 1.8x and nearly $3 billion of liquidity, URI has ample financial flexibility to pursue deals.

Overall, M&A looks more like an accelerator than a necessity. Strong organic growth gives URI room to remain selective, while targeted acquisitions could still enhance its specialty portfolio and strengthen its one-stop-shop strategy.

United Rentals, Gibraltar and Masco: Who Has the Better Growth Mix?

United Rentals appears to have the strongest organic growth profile compared with Gibraltar Industries, Inc. ROCK and Masco Corporation MAS. URI management said more than 90% of its current growth is organic, while maintaining a robust M&A pipeline focused partly on adding products and strengthening specialty offerings. 

Gibraltar’s recent growth is more acquisition-assisted. Second-quarter 2026 sales surged 64.6% to $510 million following the OmniMax acquisition, while companywide organic growth was 5%. The combination is producing benefits, with management raising its 2026 synergy commitment to $29.4 million of executed savings. However, Gibraltar ended the quarter at 3.9x net leverage and has made debt reduction its priority over the next 12-18 months, potentially limiting near-term acquisition flexibility.

Masco presents a more balanced capital-allocation picture. Second-quarter 2026 sales declined 3%, although underlying sales were roughly flat excluding targeted strategic investments. The company ended the quarter with 2.1x gross debt-to-EBITDA and $1.5 billion of liquidity, and now expects to deploy about $1 billion toward share repurchases or acquisitions in 2026.

Overall, URI appears least dependent on M&A to sustain growth. Gibraltar is focused on extracting value from OmniMax and deleveraging, while Masco retains acquisition capacity but is also prioritizing organic investments and shareholder returns. For URI, selective deals could complement an already strong organic growth engine rather than create it.

URI Stock’s Price Performance & Valuation Trend

Shares of this Connecticut-based equipment rental company climbed 42.6% in the year-to-date (YTD) period, outperforming the Zacks Building Products - Miscellaneous industry, the broader Zacks Construction sector and the S&P 500 Index.

URI YTD Share Price Performance

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URI Valuation

URI stock is currently trading at a premium compared with the industry peers, with a forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 21.75, as the trend lines suggest below.

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Earnings Estimate Trend of URI

URI’s earnings estimates for 2026 and 2027 have moved upward over the past 30 days to $48.55 and $55.71 per share, respectively. The revised estimates for 2026 and 2027 imply year-over-year improvement of 9.6% and 15.4%, respectively.

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URI’s Zacks Rank

United Rentals currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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