United Rentals (URI) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

United Rentals (URI) closed the most recent trading day at $289.76, moving -1.92% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.13%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 1.01%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.18%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the equipment rental company had lost 3.94% over the past month. This has was narrower than the Construction sector's loss of 8.12% and the S&P 500's loss of 7.59% in that time.

United Rentals will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, United Rentals is projected to report earnings of $8.88 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 34.95%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $3.06 billion, up 18.05% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $31.73 per share and revenue of $11.58 billion, which would represent changes of +43.83% and +19.17%, respectively, from the prior year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for United Rentals should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.22% higher. United Rentals currently has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking at its valuation, United Rentals is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 9.31. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 11.31, so we one might conclude that United Rentals is trading at a discount comparatively.

Investors should also note that URI has a PEG ratio of 0.53 right now. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Building Products - Miscellaneous industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.02 as of yesterday's close.

The Building Products - Miscellaneous industry is part of the Construction sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 59, putting it in the top 24% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.

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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.