The quarter beat on both the top line and adjusted earnings. Net sales of $6.57 billion exceeded published expectations of roughly $6.20 billion-$6.27 billion, while non-GAAP diluted EPS of $2.91 was above published estimates clustered around $2.66-$2.83. That makes this more than the company simply delivering its advertised growth narrative: demand came in stronger than the market had modeled. (Financial Highlights; Non-GAAP Net Income Reconciliation)
| Q2 2026 metric | Reported | Prior-year Q2 | Published expectation | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Net sales | $6.57B | $5.98B (+10.0%) | ~$6.20B-$6.27B | Clear beat |
| Non-GAAP diluted EPS | $2.91 | $2.60 (+11.9%) | ~$2.66-$2.83 | Clear beat |
| GAAP diluted EPS | $2.15 | $2.05 (+5.1%) | — | Growth lagged adjusted EPS |
| Gross margin | 20.1% | 20.8% | — | 70 bp decline |
| GAAP operating margin | 6.5% | 7.0% | — | 50 bp decline |
| Six-month free cash flow | $165.8M | $393.7M | — | Down 57.9% |
The beat was demand-led, with broad strength outside a couple of slower verticals. Commercial sales rose 9.2%, government grew 13.6%, and “Other” rose 22.9%; corporate and healthcare both posted solid growth. Education was essentially flat and financial services grew only 1.8%, so the result was not uniformly strong—but the stronger categories were enough to push total sales 10% higher. Management specifically cited servers, storage, software, networking and notebooks as drivers, consistent with infrastructure-refresh and AI-related spending translating into revenue. (Net Sales by Customer Channel; Net Sales discussion)
Profitability did not keep pace with sales, which limits the quality of the beat. Gross profit increased 6.3%, below revenue growth, as gross margin fell to 20.1% from 20.8% because of a heavier mix of lower-margin hardware. Selling and administrative expense rose 8.6%, leaving GAAP operating income up just 2.0% and GAAP operating margin down to 6.5%. The stronger adjusted EPS growth also reflects a lower diluted share count and the exclusion of $44.2 million in workplace-optimization costs, versus $12.7 million a year ago. (Financial Highlights; Consolidated Statements of Income; Non-GAAP Operating Income Reconciliation)
Cash conversion is the main counterweight to the earnings beat. First-half operating cash flow fell to $219.7 million from $443.1 million, and free cash flow dropped to $165.8 million from $393.7 million. Net debt rose to $5.46 billion from $5.01 billion at year-end, while the cash conversion cycle widened to 21 days from 16 days as inventory days increased. These figures do not negate the Q2 earnings outperformance, but they show growth is currently absorbing more working capital rather than flowing through cleanly to cash. (Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows; Debt and Revolver Availability)
The outlook language is supportive but not a new numerical upgrade. CDW reiterated confidence that it can outgrow the U.S. IT addressable market by 200-300 basis points on a constant-currency basis, but the release did not provide or raise a specific revenue or EPS outlook. Net: a genuine consensus beat, tempered by margin compression and weaker cash generation rather than a full improvement across every operating measure. (Net Sales discussion)
Read the original 8-K on SEC EDGAR ↗