Analyst Consensus ?
ConsensusBuy18 ratings
Bullish1372.2%
Neutral527.8%
Bearish00.0%
CDW Corporation · CDW · FY2026 Q1 · Calendar Q2 2026
CDW Q1 2026: Revenue Beats on AI Infrastructure Demand; Shares Dropped 20%
CDW's fiscal Q1 2026 demonstrated top-line strength, with net sales rising 9% year-over-year to $5.68 billion, exceeding consensus by 3.6%. EPS of $2.28 matched estimates exactly. The beat was powered by AI infrastructure hardware demand, and management struck a confident tone, highlighting a new Boost Run GPU-as-a-service partnership and an AI-first go-to-market strategy anchored by the CDW Assist Super Agent. Despite the results, shares plunged roughly 20% on the report day on 4.2x baseline volume, before recovering 28% over subsequent weeks. Analyst questions during the call centered on the margin quality of AI deals, inventory buildup, and the trajectory of netted-down revenue, which may explain the disconnect between the beat and the market reaction. Management maintained full-year guidance for low-single-digit market growth and low-to-mid single-digit gross profit growth, while…
Reported Before market openNASDAQTechnology
$18.60B market cap
90quality score
Company context
Snapshot as of publicationCDW Corporation specializes in delivering comprehensive information technology services and products across North America and the United Kingdom. It strategically targets three core client divisions: corporate enterprises, small to medium-sized businesses, and public sector organizations. Their portfolio encompasses both individual hardware and software offerings, alongside sophisticated integrated IT solution packages. These comprehensive solutions span on-premise, hybrid, and cloud environments, addressing critical areas such as data center infrastructure, network management, digital workspace enablement, and robust security.…
Earnings scorecard
Reported versus consensus
Reported EPS
$2.28
Consensus $2
EPS surprise
0.0%
Reported versus consensus
Reported revenue
$5.68B
Consensus $5.48B
Revenue surprise
+3.6%
Reported versus consensus
Earnings History
Estimate
Beat
Miss
Match
Analyst 52W Price Targets
$145.56Previous close
$123Low
$181.33Average
$270High
Latest persisted target per named analyst; persisted previous close from FN2's market snapshot as of Jul 31, 2026. Not an FN2 forecast.
Firm-level rating actions
FMP grade actions identify the grading firm, not a named analyst.
| Firm | Rating | Prior rating | Action | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citigroup | Neutral | Neutral | Maintain | Jul 13, 2026 |
| Morgan Stanley | Overweight | Equal Weight | Upgrade | Jun 23, 2026 |
| JP Morgan | Overweight | Neutral | Upgrade | May 27, 2026 |
| UBS | Buy | Buy | Maintain | May 7, 2026 |
| Evercore ISI Group | Outperform | Outperform | Maintain | May 7, 2026 |
| Barclays | Equal Weight | Equal Weight | Maintain | May 7, 2026 |
| Raymond James | Strong Buy | Outperform | Upgrade | Nov 25, 2025 |
| Stifel | Buy | Buy | Maintain | Jul 17, 2024 |
| Northcoast Research | Buy | Neutral | Upgrade | Jun 7, 2024 |
| Credit Suisse | Outperform | Outperform | Maintain | May 4, 2023 |
| B of A Securities | Neutral | Buy | Downgrade | Apr 19, 2023 |
| CFRA | Hold | Hold | Maintain | May 7, 2020 |
| Bank of America | Buy | Buy | Maintain | Jul 30, 2019 |
| Stifel Nicolaus | Hold | Buy | Downgrade | Apr 17, 2019 |
| Baird | Outperform | Neutral | Upgrade | May 9, 2017 |
| Deutsche Bank | Buy | Buy | Maintain | Aug 4, 2016 |
| Goldman Sachs | Buy | Buy | Maintain | Dec 1, 2015 |
| RBC Capital | Outperform | Outperform | Maintain | May 8, 2015 |
Named analyst price targets
Upside is calculated against the persisted previous close $145.56. FMP does not supply a rating on these named-analyst rows.
| Firm | Analyst | 52W target | Price when posted | Upside | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morgan Stanley | Erik Woodring | $170 | $123.57 | +16.8% | Jun 23, 2026 |
| RBC Capital | Analyst unavailable | $130 | $108.59 | -10.7% | May 27, 2026 |
| UBS | Analyst unavailable | $147 | $113.08 | +1.0% | May 7, 2026 |
| Barclays | Analyst unavailable | $123 | $109 | -15.5% | May 7, 2026 |
| Raymond James | Analyst unavailable | $150 | $111.17 | +3.1% | May 6, 2026 |
| UBS | Analyst unavailable | $162 | $138.08 | +11.3% | Feb 5, 2026 |
| Barclays | Analyst unavailable | $144 | $138.08 | -1.1% | Feb 5, 2026 |
| Evercore ISI | Analyst unavailable | $180 | $127.51 | +23.7% | Jan 20, 2026 |
| Morgan Stanley | Analyst unavailable | $141 | $131.75 | -3.1% | Jan 20, 2026 |
| Morgan Stanley | Analyst unavailable | $177 | $145.02 | +21.6% | Dec 17, 2025 |
| Raymond James | Adam Tindle | $185 | $141.92 | +27.1% | Nov 25, 2025 |
| UBS | Analyst unavailable | $190 | $142.21 | +30.5% | Nov 5, 2025 |
| Barclays | Analyst unavailable | $148 | $141.66 | +1.7% | Nov 5, 2025 |
| Citigroup | Asiya Merchant | $245 | $226.3 | +68.3% | Oct 1, 2024 |
| Northcoast Research | Keith Housum | $270 | $224.24 | +85.5% | Jun 7, 2024 |
| J.P. Morgan | Analyst unavailable | $225 | $178.46 | +54.6% | Dec 20, 2022 |
| Stifel Nicolaus | Matthew Sheerin | $210 | $171.68 | +44.3% | Apr 18, 2022 |
| Morgan Stanley | Erik Woodring | $214 | $178.83 | +47.0% | Apr 4, 2022 |
Track every rating change on CDW the moment it posts. Free to start.
Start freeMarket reaction
prior-close to event-session close
Stock move
-20.3%
Event window
SPY move
+1.4%
Same window
Abnormal move
-21.7%
Stock minus SPY
Volume
4.2×
Versus trailing sessions
Subsequent drift
+27.9%
Up to 20 sessions
CDWSPY benchmark
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Try FN2 freeTranscript intelligence
What changed
Q1 net sales increased 9% YoY to $5.68 billion, beating the $5.48 billion estimate by 3.6%. EPS of $2.28 was exactly in line with consensus. Gross profit reached a record $1.2 billion. Adjusted free cash flow of $251 million supported $282 million in combined share repurchases and dividends. The stock fell 20.3% on the report day against a 1.4% benchmark gain, on 4.2x baseline volume, then drifted 27.9% higher in the weeks that followed.
Guidance delta
Management maintained its full-year outlook: low-single-digit market growth with gross profit expected to grow low-to-mid single digits. Guidance sentiment was unchanged. The Geared for Growth initiative was newly highlighted as a structural cost-reduction driver, targeting $100-$200 million in annual run-rate savings by 2027-2028.
Key takeaways
- Net sales rose 9% YoY to $5.68 billion, beating estimates by 3.6%, led by AI infrastructure hardware demand.
- EPS of $2.28 matched consensus exactly; gross profit reached a record $1.2 billion.
- Adjusted free cash flow of $251 million funded $282 million in share repurchases and dividends.
- New Boost Run GPU-as-a-service partnership launched; AI-first strategy expanded with CDW Assist Super Agent.
- Geared for Growth program targets $100-$200 million in annual run-rate savings by 2027-2028.
- Shares fell 20.3% on report day at 4.2x normal volume, then recovered 27.9% over subsequent weeks.
Management priorities
- Rollout of Boost Run GPU-as-a-service offering for AI workloads
- Expansion of AI-first go-to-market strategy and CDW Assist Super Agent
- Execution of Geared for Growth efficiency program
- Incremental dividend increases aligned with earnings growth
- Opportunistic M&A activity and continued share repurchases
Related earnings events
TechnologySources
- Earnings call transcript and parsed analysis · 2026-05-11T10:29:34.698584+00:00
- FN2 earnings calendar · 2026-07-26T00:37:12.209961+00:00
- Polygon adjusted daily market bars · 2026-07-31T06:01:45.765226+00:00
- Financial Modeling Prep analyst price-target consensus and quote snapshot · 2026-07-31T06:01:45.762478+00:00
Methodology
Reported and consensus figures come from FN2's earnings event records. Market reaction and volume are calculated from daily adjusted bars around the event; abnormal move subtracts the SPY move over the same window.
Analyst target low, average, and high values are derived at request time from each named analyst's latest persisted FMP target. The current-price marker comes from FN2's persisted market snapshot. They are sell-side estimates, not an FN2 valuation or recommendation.
Transcript intelligence is a structured synthesis of the current and prior earnings-call analyses. Missing values stay missing and are never estimated.
By FN2 Research · Updated . For educational purposes only; not investment advice.