United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE: URI) reported Q2 EPS of $1.65, $0.18 better than the analyst estimate of $1.47. Revenue for the quarter came in at $1.39 billion versus the consensus estimate of $1.36 billion.

Second Quarter 2014 Highlights

• Rental revenue (which includes owned equipment rental revenue, re-rent revenue and ancillary items) increased 16.8% year-over-year. Within rental revenue, owned equipment rental revenue increased 16.1%, reflecting year-over-year increases of 10.3% in the volume of equipment on rent and 4.9% in rental rates.
• Adjusted EBITDA was $663 million and adjusted EBITDA margin was 47.4%, an increase of $114 million and 190 basis points, respectively, from the same period last year.
• ROIC was 8.1% for the 12 months ended June 30, 2014, an increase of 1.1 percentage points from the 12 months ended June 30, 2013.
• Time utilization increased 20 basis points year-over-year to 68.1%.
• The company generated $138 million of proceeds from used equipment sales at an adjusted gross margin of 48.6%, compared with $131 million and 42.0% for the same period last year.3
• Flow-through, which represents the year-over-year change in adjusted EBITDA divided by the year-over-year change in total revenue, was 59.1% for the quarter.

United Rentals, Inc. sees FY2014 revenue of $5.55-5.65 billion, versus prior guidance of $5.45-5.65 billion and the consensus of $5.56 billion.

Michael Kneeland, chief executive officer of United Rentals, said, "Our strong performance in the quarter reflects significantly more equipment on rent at better margins than a year ago, resulting in a new high water mark for second quarter EBITDA margin. The rebound in non-residential construction is continuing to drive up demand, particularly in the energy and commercial sectors. Given the vigorous activity we're seeing, and the benefit of secular penetration, we've raised our full year outlook - and we concur with the forecasts that show multiple years of healthy industry growth beyond 2014."

Kneeland continued, "We're well into the expansion of our specialty segment, most notably the acquisition and integration of National Pump in the second quarter. Our pump customers now have access to our full range of fleet, and we'll expand our cross-selling of pump assets to our broader customer base. In addition, we opened five specialty cold-starts in Trench Safety, Power and HVAC and Tools, and acquired the four-location Blue-Stream Power and HVAC business in May. We're very pleased with the caliber of our specialty acquisitions and the potential they represent for superior return on capital."

For earnings history and earnings-related data on United Rentals, Inc. (URI) click here.