United Rentals Results Top Estimate

(RTTNews) - Equipment rental company United Rentals Inc (URI) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $194 million or $1.88 per share compared with $140 million or $1.31 per share last year.

Excluding items, adjusted earnings for the quarter were $2.19 per share.

Revenues for the quarter were $1.56 billion compared with $1.34 billion in the prior year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $2.07 per share on revenues of $1.52 billion for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

For the full year 2015, the company expects revenues of $6 billion to $6.2 billion, while analysts expect revenues of $6.16 billion.

The company expects rental capital expenditures in 2015 to be about $1.2 billion.

"Our industry is forecast to have multiple years of growth ahead, and our customers are upbeat. While we expect to see a drag in some trade areas from the slowdown in upstream oil, our exposure is greatly limited by our size, agility and diversification. Furthermore, we believe that low oil prices will be a boon to many sectors we serve, spurring demand in manufacturing and other markets hungry for our fleet," said Michael Kneeland, the company's chief executive officer.