CDW vs PLUS: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?
Last updated August 2026
Short answer
CDW is the larger of the two ($17.90B market cap): the incumbent the market prices for continued execution (11.89x forward earnings, beta 0.94). PLUS is the smaller challenger ($2.27B), actually pricier on forward earnings (14.58x): more room to run, but more to prove. The real question is which set of drivers you believe, and whether owning one (or both) leaves you over-concentrated.
CDW vs PLUS: the tie-breaker metrics
Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.
| Metric | CDW | PLUS | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market cap | $17.90B | $2.27B | Size. The larger name is the incumbent; the smaller has more room to grow and more to prove. |
| Forward P/E | 11.89 | 14.58 | Valuation on next year's expected earnings, the same yardstick for both. Lower is cheaper for that growth; higher means the market is paying up. |
| Trailing P/E | 17.06 | 18.60 | Valuation on the last 12 months. A big drop from trailing to forward means the market expects earnings to jump, so more growth is already in the price. |
| Beta | 0.94 | 0.98 | Volatility vs the market. Above 1 swings harder than the index; below 1 is steadier. Higher beta means bigger drawdowns to hold through. |
| Price vs 52-week range | 58% of range | 61% of range | Where today's price sits between the 52-week low and high. Near the high is momentum with less margin of safety; near the low is out of favor or a discount, depending on why. |
| Price / book | 7.02 | 2.10 | How much you pay over book value. Very high can signal an asset-light, high-return business or a rich price. |
Reading it: CDW is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.
Before you buy: how CDW and PLUS affect your concentration
The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. CDW and PLUS share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.
This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined CDW and PLUS exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.
What does CDW Corporation (CDW) do?
CDW Corporation is a multi-brand provider of information technology solutions, founded in 1984 and headquartered in Vernon Hills, Illinois. It sells hardware (notebooks, servers, storage, networking gear), software licensing, cloud subscriptions and a growing layer of its own services, sourcing from more than 1,000 vendors including Dell, HP, Lenovo, Cisco, Microsoft, Apple and NVIDIA. Revenue is reported through Corporate (~$9.4B in 2025), Public covering government, education and healthcare (~$8.5B), Small Business (~$1.7B) and Other, which is the UK and Canadian operations. CDW does not manufacture anything: its economics come from scale purchasing, a large account-manager and solution-architect salesforce, and attaching services and configuration work to product it moves.
What does ePlus inc. (PLUS) do?
ePlus inc. (Nasdaq: PLUS) sells and integrates information technology for middle-market and large enterprises, state and local government, education, healthcare and telecom. It buys from vendors such as Cisco, Dell, HPE, NetApp and the major cloud marketplaces, configures and deploys the result, and increasingly sells its own labor on top through three reportable segments: product, professional services and managed services. The company changed shape on June 30, 2025, when it sold its domestic financing business (Expo Holdings, LLC) to Marlin Leasing Corporation, which trades as PEAC Solutions. That business is now presented as discontinued operations in every period shown, so any comparison against pre-2025 figures needs to be recast before it means anything. ePlus employs roughly 2,170 people and is headquartered in Virginia, with operations in the UK, the EU, India and Singapore.
CDW vs PLUS: how do they differ?
Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.
- CDW drivers: Refresh cycle and AI-adjacent hardware demand; Mix shift toward services and recurring revenue.
- PLUS drivers: AI, data center and security refresh cycles; Managed services as the recurring layer.
Which fits which kind of investor
A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Gross margin is the central pressure point: hardware-heavy growth mechanically compresses reported margin because software and cloud revenue is netted down, and management guided second-half 2026 gross margin below the prior year. For PLUS, customer concentration is the single largest exposure: sales to Verizon Communications were 24% of net sales in fiscal 2026, up from 17% in fiscal 2025, so a change in that one relationship would move the whole income statement.
CDW or PLUS: which should you pick?
Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick CDW if you believe its drivers more; PLUS if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the CDW and PLUS guides.
CDW vs PLUS: the full fundamentals
CDW. CDW trades at a mid-teens forward multiple, well below the broader technology sector, which reflects its channel economics (thin gross margin, high asset turns) rather than software-like profitability. The Q2 2026 report beat on revenue and EPS but the stock fell roughly 9% to 12% on the day because gross profit came in below expectations and the company guided second-half margin lower. Shares sit near $140 against a 52-week range of roughly $97 to $173, with a beta near 0.9.
PLUS. The two revenue figures are not interchangeable. Net sales of ~$2.45 billion is what US GAAP allows ePlus to book after agent-basis transactions are recorded net of vendor cost, while gross billings of ~$3.84 billion is the volume actually transacted, and the ratio between them drifts with mix each quarter. Enterprise value is well below market capitalisation because roughly a fifth of the market cap is cash, so the multiple on operating earnings is meaningfully lower than the headline P/E suggests. Fiscal 2026, ended March 31, 2026, was the base year for all of this: net sales +22.1%, adjusted EBITDA +49.5% and continuing-operations diluted EPS of $4.71, against which the June 2026 quarter's $1.16 was a 4.1% decline.
Headline figures (approximate, August 2026): CDW shows revenue (ttm) ~$23.5B, q2 2026 net sales ~$6.57B (+10% YoY), q2 2026 non-gaap eps ~$2.91 (+12% YoY), q2 2026 gross margin ~20.1% (down ~70 bps YoY); PLUS shows share price / market cap ~$86.85, ~$2.25B (Aug 20, 2026), net sales (ttm, net basis) ~$2.45B; gross billings ~$3.84B, gross profit (ttm) ~$614M, ~25% of net sales, diluted eps (ttm) ~$4.58 GAAP; ~$4.66 continuing ops; P/E ~19x.
The bottom line: CDW vs PLUS
CDW and PLUS are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined CDW and PLUS exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.
Wondering how CDW or PLUS fits the portfolio you already own? Walnut is an AI investing app that connects your brokerage read-only and answers questions like that about your actual holdings: overlap, concentration, and how each position tracks the S&P 500. Compare the best AI portfolio analyzers or see the best AI investing apps in 2026.
Investing in CDW Corporation with AI
Connect the broker you already use and ask Walnut's AI how CDW fits what you actually hold: whether you own it already through a fund, what it would do to your concentration, and how it has tracked the S&P 500. Read-only by default, and you approve anything before it reaches your broker.
FAQ
What is the difference between CDW and PLUS?
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CDW Corporation is a multi-brand provider of information technology solutions, founded in 1984 and headquartered in Vernon Hills, Illinois. ePlus inc. They show up together because they share investment themes, but they are different businesses, so the better fit depends on which thesis you are expressing.
Is CDW or PLUS the better stock?
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Neither is universally better. CDW is the larger incumbent; PLUS is the smaller challenger and looks pricier on forward earnings. Walnut is informational, not investment advice. Compare what each does, the tie-breaker metrics above, and the risks, then decide which fits your thesis and what you already own.
Which is cheaper, CDW or PLUS?
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On forward P/E (as of August 2026), CDW trades at 11.89x and PLUS at 14.58x, so CDW is the cheaper of the two on next year's expected earnings. A lower multiple is not automatically the better buy: a richer valuation can be justified by faster growth, and a lower one can reflect real risk. Weigh the multiple against how fast each business is compounding.
Should you own both CDW and PLUS?
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Because they share themes, owning both concentrates you in that theme. That can be intentional (a focused bet) or accidental (less diversification than it looks). Walnut can show your combined exposure across both, and whether adding either over-concentrates you, before you buy.
What are the risks of CDW vs PLUS?
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CDW: Gross margin is the central pressure point: hardware-heavy growth mechanically compresses reported margin because software and cloud revenue is netted down, and management guided second-half 2026 gross margin below the prior year. Free cash flow swung negative in Q2 2026 (roughly -$251 million versus +$210 million a year earlier) on working capital, which matters for a business whose bull case rests on cash conversion. The Public segment ties a large slice of revenue to government and education budgets, exposing CDW to shutdowns, funding delays and procurement freezes. Component cost inflation, particularly in memory, and broader tariff or supply chain disruption can squeeze pricing on resold product. Longer term, the reseller model faces disintermediation risk as OEMs sell direct and as cloud marketplaces absorb software procurement, and sell-side estimates already assume roughly flat revenue over the next twelve months, so the market is not underwriting the current growth rate as durable. PLUS: Customer concentration is the single largest exposure: sales to Verizon Communications were 24% of net sales in fiscal 2026, up from 17% in fiscal 2025, so a change in that one relationship would move the whole income statement. Supply is the near-term issue, with management naming a memory chip shortage that delayed product shipments and extended lead times in the June quarter, which is also why the fiscal 2027 plan is weighted to the second half. Gross margin slipped to 23.3% from 23.9% year over year, and it fell in all three segments, so the margin story is not one-directional. The revenue line itself is unstable as a measure because the continued shift toward as-a-service and subscription arrangements recorded on a net basis suppresses reported net sales while flattering margin, which makes gross billings the more comparable volume figure. Competition is intense and includes far larger integrators and private firms that do not report, and vendor incentives, which are a real component of profitability, can be reduced by the manufacturers at their own discretion.
Walnut is informational, not investment advice. This page is descriptive and not a recommendation to buy or sell CDW or PLUS; figures are approximate and dated (as of August 2026). Verify current data before investing.