CDW

Business profile & competitive position

CDW Corporation is classified in the Technology sector, specifically the Information Technology Services industry. Its core business is acting as a multi-brand intermediary for IT solutions: it resells discrete hardware and software, designs hybrid-infrastructure and security solutions, and provides integration and managed services to business, government, education, and healthcare customers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. According to its most recent 10-K summary, the company delivers through roughly 10,500 customer-facing coworkers and aims to be viewed as a trusted adviser and extension of its customers’ IT workforces.

The numbers behind the model are consistent with a large-scale reseller and solutions broker rather than a high-margin software developer. Net margin is 4.6%, which is low by tech standards but typical for an IT distribution and services intermediary that adds value through procurement breadth, logistics, and integration rather than high-margin intellectual property. Return on equity, however, is 42.6%, an exceptionally high figure that generally signals strong balance-sheet leverage and efficient asset turns rather than pure pricing power. The company’s operational scale supports that reading: the U.S. accounted for approximately 90% of 2025 net sales, the UK and Canada combined generated $2.7 billion, CDW ships roughly 22 million units annually from more than one million square feet of distribution space, and drop-shipment arrangements represented about 51% of North America net sales in 2025. Its catalog exceeds 100,000 products from over 1,000 vendor partners, including more than $2.0 billion of 2025 net sales from each of its three largest partners.

Financial posture

As of the snapshot date, CDW carried an $18.9 billion market capitalization and traded at a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.1. That multiple sits well below the premium valuations common in pure software or cloud infrastructure, which fits a services- and distribution-heavy business model. The 42.6% ROE stands out as the most eye-catching profitability metric, while the 4.6% net margin confirms the business is not generating outsized bottom-line capture on each dollar of revenue. The beta is 0.94, indicating the stock historically moves roughly in line with the broader market. At the current price of $151.2501, the RSI is 48.8 and the 50-day exponential moving average is $147.85, leaving the stock neither dramatically overbought nor oversold by those common technical markers.

Strategic priorities & outlook

CDW’s most recent SEC 10-K filing outlines several clear priorities:

• Position CDW as a trusted adviser and extension of customers’ IT workforces.
• Continue investing in the sales organization and in deeper services and solutions capabilities.
• Drive sustainable, profitable growth by leveraging scale, a performance-driven culture, and enhanced capabilities.
• Realign go-to-market reporting effective January 1, 2026, into Commercial, Government, and Education segments.

Operational facts from the filing put those priorities in context. The five U.S. customer channels each produced $1.7 billion or more in 2025 net sales, underscoring a broad domestic revenue base. On the supply side, the company relies on a sprawling partner network—over 1,000 vendor partners and more than 100,000 products—and its top three partners each contributed more than $2.0 billion of 2025 net sales. That vendor depth, combined with physical distribution and a heavy use of drop-shipment, is the platform management is trying to convert into stickier advisory and services relationships.

Macro & geopolitical exposure

As an Information Technology Services company, CDW is exposed to the broader enterprise and public-sector IT spending cycle. Its largest customer categories include government, education, healthcare, and business, meaning federal, state, and local budget decisions can influence demand. Inflation, interest rates, and capital-budget caution can stretch or delay hardware refresh cycles, while cyber-security regulation and data-sovereignty rules can increase demand for security and compliance services.

Because a meaningful share of the business still involves hardware procurement, the company sits in the path of trade policy that affects imported technology, including semiconductors, networking gear, and endpoints. Currency risk is also relevant: with the UK and Canada combining for $2.7 billion of net sales, British pound and Canadian dollar translation can affect reported results. Supply-chain choices, including drop-shipment representing about 51% of North America net sales, add logistics and vendor-fulfillment exposure to the model. Finally, vendor concentration is an industry-level factor to watch: more than $2.0 billion of annual net sales each came from the three largest partners, so shifts in partner pricing, terms, or product availability can flow through quickly in a low-margin distribution environment.

Recent developments

• 2026-11-02, BusinessWire: Interlock Equity completed the sale of Lovelytics to CDW, adding data and analytics consulting capabilities to the service portfolio.
• 2026-11-02, Zacks: CDW was flagged as “Ahead of Q3 Earnings,” with a focus on key factors investors should watch heading into the report.
• 2026-10-27, Defense World: Compass Ion Advisors LLC lowered its stake in CDW during the quarter.
• 2026-10-22, GuruFocus: CDW stock was up 4.0% and described as still undervalued, carrying a GF Score of 83/100.

The upcoming catalyst is the next scheduled earnings release on November 4, 2026 before market open, with a consensus EPS estimate of $2.98.

Earnings behavior & post-earnings drift

CDW has beaten the official consensus in 6 of the last 8 reported quarters, an 86% beat rate, with an average earnings surprise of 3.1%. Despite that consistency, the average 5-day price move after earnings across those quarters is -2.97%, and the post-earnings drift direction is classified as “down.” That is the central pattern to understand: headline beats have not reliably produced sustained rallies over the following week.

The most recent four quarters illustrate the disconnect clearly:

• 2026-08-05: EPS of $2.91 versus an estimate of $2.80, a 3.9% beat; the stock rose 1.33% the next day but drifted -2.45% over the following five sessions.
• 2026-05-06: EPS of $2.28 matched the $2.28 estimate exactly (0% surprise, inline); the stock rose 1.1% the next day but fell -7.89% over the following five sessions.
• 2026-02-04: EPS of $2.57 versus an estimate of $2.44, a 5.3% beat; the stock rose 1.95% the next day but drifted -2.25% over the following five sessions.
• 2025-11-04: EPS of $2.71 versus an estimate of $2.62, a 3.4% beat; the stock rose 3.29% the next day and added 0.71% over the following five sessions—the only one of the four with a positive one-week drift.

The takeaway is that the market’s initial reaction and the five-day follow-through often move in different directions. Traders who assume “beat equals pop and hold” have been contradicted repeatedly in this stock. For the November 4, 2026 report, with consensus EPS at $2.98, the more important question may be how guidance, margin commentary, and enterprise-spending tone shape sentiment after the headline surprise.

For a deeper dive into how institutional analysts and quant models are currently positioned on CDW ahead of earnings, explore the full institutional verdict on the ticker page.