GREENWICH, Conn. - In an end-of-the-year vote of confidence for their company and basic industry fundamentals, senior United Rentals officials bought a combined 700,000 additional shares in their company, led by CEO Bradley Jacobs, who added 500,000 shares.
In the past few months, six senior managers and one independent board member, all acting independently, bought a total of 700,000 shares in United, according to Jacobs.
Jacobs bought the shares at $14.50-$15.81, raising his total stake in United to more than 21 million shares. Jacobs said the stock is undervalued and that growth prospects for the entire equipment rental industry are very good.
"We're very bullish on the outlook for the equipment rental industry, and as obviously demonstrated by our stock purchases, we're putting our money where our mouth is, and we intend to continue to grow our national accounts program," Jacobs said.
Jacobs said he was comfortable with Wall Street analysts' earnings estimates of 47 cents per share in the fourth quarter compared to 33 cents the year before, and $1.65 per share for full-year 1999 versus $1.00 in 1998.
"It's very hard to find an industry that has been generating the high level of internal growth that the equipment rental industry has been experiencing for so many years now, and is likely to continue to experience," Jacobs said.
Among the others who bought shares were board member Richard Heckman, who bought 62,800 shares at $15.69, CFO Michael Nolan, vice chairman and chief acquisition officer John Milne, and vice chairman and COO Wayland Hicks.
United has slowed its acquisition pace in recent months to focus on internal growth, and plans to buy companies with about $350 million in revenue this year, down from the $600 million it added last year.
ATLANTA - United Rentals has acquired RentSource, a division of Burch-Lowe Inc., RER has learned. According to sources, United now owns all of RentSource's 10 Georgia locations. The Burch-Lowe distributorship will continue under the leadership of the Burch family.
RentSource has four stand-alone locations as well as six facilities on the grounds of Burch-Lowe distributorships. United has yet to announce its plans for those facilities.
Neither officials from United nor Burch-Lowe could be reached for comment.
One of the first distributors to have a major rental presence, Burch-Lowe is No. 40 on the RER 100. Its highway-heavy division will continue to distribute construction, earth moving, mining, paving and industrial equipment.
