Matthew Flannery

President, Chief Executive Officer & Director, United Rentals

Search every verified Matthew Flannery interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Matthew Flannery, President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of United Rentals, led the company’s Q2 2026 earnings call on July 23, 2026. During the call, Flannery discussed the company’s performance, stating that the company was raising its guidance for the second half of the year. He attributed this to providing customers with what he described as a best-in-class partnership while also generating strong shareholder returns. Flannery also noted that the company’s profitability, capital efficiency, and business model flexibility allow it to generate free cash flow that can be redeployed to augment shareholder value. Flannery reported that the company saw 25% year-over-year growth, which he characterized as broad-based across all seven of its specialty business segments, including fluid solutions, trench and safety, tools, and matting. He stated that the growth was driven by the company’s one-stop shop capability, which he said was outpacing growth expectations due to the complexity of large projects requiring more service. Flannery also mentioned that the company would continue to pursue value-additive M&A, acknowledging that such deals could have a short-term dilutive impact on return on invested capital but were framed around cash-on-cash returns to demonstrate capital allocation discipline.