CDW Corp. (CDW) Q1 Earnings: Stock To Disappoint Again?

CDW Corporation (NASDAQ:CDW) is set to report first-quarter 2016 results on May 4. Last quarter, the company posted a negative earnings surprise of 2.82%. Let us see how things are shaping up for this announcement.

Factors to Consider

CDW specializes in offering information technology products and services to business, government, education and healthcare customers primarily in the U.S. and Canada.

Growth in customer channels and consistent strategic achievements are positive couple of factors that should drive the company’s performance. Additionally, CDW’s robust product portfolio and product refreshes continue to drive growth.

The company’s exposure in the high-end corporate desktop and digital education implementation space also remains a positive. Moreover, its strong position at medium to large businesses, focus on small & medium businesses and customer additions to grow market share are encouraging.

However, the latest report on worldwide IT spending by Gartner raises concerns about CDW’s near-term performance. The research firm expects worldwide IT spending to increase just 0.6% year over year in 2016 to $3.54 trillion due to the stronger dollar.

Notably, 2015 witnessed the largest U.S. dollar drop in IT spending, since the research firm started tracking the expenses. Last year, the worldwide IT spending declined approximately 5.8% year over year or $216 billion to $3.52 trillion.

Gartner also predicts that 2014 worldwide IT spending levels of about $3.74 billion will not be surpassed until 2019. These predictions may undermine CDW’s to-be-reported quarterly results.

Moreover, a highly leveraged balance sheet, competition from Insight Enterprises Inc. (NSIT) and PC Connection, Inc., and pricing pressures remain headwinds.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively show that CDW will beat earnings this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below.

Zacks ESP: Both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate stand at 63 cents. Hence, the difference is 0.00%.

Zacks Rank: CDW carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). As it is, we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing a negative estimate revisions momentum.

Stocks to Consider

Here are some companies that you may consider, as our model shows that they have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter:

Fitbit Inc. (NYSE:FIT) , with an Earnings ESP of +175.00% and a Zacks Rank #2.

Benefitfocus Inc. (NASDAQ:BNFT) , with an Earnings ESP of +4.00% and a Zacks Rank #2.

Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHP) , with an Earnings ESP of +3.33% and a Zacks Rank #2.

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