Ashtead advances on the back of upbeat United Rentals update
Ashtead Group
5,558.00p
16:40 19/04/24
Equipment rental company Ashtead was boosted on Thursday as from US peer United Rentals' third-quarter earnings came in stronger than forecast.
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Overnight, United reported pro-forma rental rates were up 0.9% in the quarter compared to the same period last year, which was 0.4% ahead of the Wall Street consensus.
This fed through to $879m of underlying operating profits, which was a 5% beat on Wall Street EBITDA estimates.
With improving time utilisation and positive rate momentum, United raised its full year guidance 5% and its shares rose 1.5% in after-hours trading.
Shares in Ashtead, which takes most of its sales and profits from its US-based Sunbelt arm, were up 2.1% in the first hour of trading in London on Thursday to 1,914p/
Analysts at Jefferies said that while they were confident of continued market share gain for Ashtead consistent, they would "conservatively retain" their estimates of £894m for profit before tax and 118.6p of earnings per share for the next full year, but reaffirmed their 'buy' rating and with £20 price target.