What Did It Take To Hold United Rentals Stock?

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A $10,000 investment in United Rentals (URI) expanded to about $146,040 over the past ten years, before dividends. The S&P 500 turned that same capital into about $35,373. Hindsight makes a massive return look effortless, but the initial purchase was never the primary hurdle. The actual test was whether a shareholder could hold on. So how many times do you think United Rentals stock fell 20% or more along the way?

How Often Did United Rentals Stock Fall?

The shares suffered six such declines, and five of those falls went deeper than 30%. The table below lists each drop alongside the performance of the S&P 500 over the exact same dates.

The most severe drawdown lasted from March 2018 to March 2020. Shares of United Rentals lost 63.3% during that period, while the S&P 500 fell 13.9%. Investors who owned it at the March 2018 peak waited about 31 months, until October 2020, for the stock to close above that high again.

What Was A Fall Like For United Rentals Holders?

In its most recent fall, United Rentals set a high in October 2025 before sliding for about five months. The stock bottomed out in March 2026 with a 30.3% loss. The shares then required another two and a half months to close above the previous peak in June 2026.

Shareholders endured a steep decline while the broader market largely held steady, as the S&P 500 slipped just 2.5% over those same five months. Each of the six declines ultimately ended. However, nobody holding the stock in March 2026 knew that this latest drop would end.

Was Something Wrong With United Rentals’ Business?

Not while the stock was falling. United Rentals earns its money from rental equipment, through a general rentals business and a faster-growing specialty business. Across the deepest fall, its twelve-month revenue rose 40.8%. The operating margin slipped only from 24.2% to 23.2%. Revenue did drop after the low, though: in the twelve months to December 2020 it fell 8.8%, and the operating margin dropped to 21.3%.

During the decline that began in October 2025, revenue held steady with a 0.7% gain. The operating margin barely moved, ticking down from 25.1% to 24.7%. The business did not shrink during either fall. The stock fell regardless, and a decline like that is simply the risk of holding the shares.