CDW Defies Government Shutdown With 7 Percent Sales Jump

‘Regardless of market conditions, our priority is clear,’ says CDW CEO Christine Leahy. ‘Deliver sustainable, profitable growth by deepening customer value, sharpening efficiency and deploying capital with discipline.’

CDW navigated what CEO Christine Leahy described as one of the most complex operating environments in the company’s history in 2025, as the prolonged U.S. government shutdown, evolving public-sector budgets and broader macroeconomic pressures affected customer spending behavior across markets.

“2025 was the year that tested every part of our company,” Leahy said during the solution provider’s 2025 Q4 earnings call Wednesday. “We managed through uncertainty around tariffs, unexpected shifts in education and health care funding, significant changes in government spending priorities and the longest federal government shutdown on record.”

The 43-day shutdown last fall, combined with ongoing geopolitical and economic uncertainty, created shaky buying patterns and delayed purchasing decisions, particularly among federal customers and enterprise buyers. But despite those headwinds, the Vernon Hills, Ill.-based company, No. 5 on CRN’s 2025 Solution Provider 500 list, reported more than $22 billion in net sales for the year, up nearly 7 percent year over year.

The CEO said the company’s performance reflected its ability to adapt quickly while staying focused on long-term strategy. “Factors [like the shutdown] shaped customer buying behaviors in unconventional ways,” she said. “We stayed focused, adapted quickly and advanced our strategy.”

However, public-sector business remained mixed throughout the year. While federal spending was impacted by the shutdown, state and local government demand helped offset some of the pressure. Government results got a boost from strong state and local demand as federal entities held up a bit better than expected, even with the disruption from the government shutdown, she said on the call.

At the same time, customers leaned into services and cloud offerings as they looked to optimize costs and improve efficiency during economic uncertainty. Cloud and professional managed services were high performers with cloud contributing to about half of the quarter’s gross profit growth. And demand was fueled partially by a growing interest in cloud-enabled AI solutions.

“Professional and managed services top line increased double-digits, driven by hybrid infrastructure engagement targeting expense savings and budget optimization,” Leahy said.

Going forward, Leahy said the company expects continued caution around the public sector as the ripple effects of the shutdown linger.

“We continue to see unique dynamics from the public sector, including lingering impacts of last year’s government shutdown alongside economic and geopolitical conditions that continue to drive cautious customer behavior,” she said.

Still, she expects the U.S. IT market to grow in the low single digits in 2026 even as public spending behaviors, tariffs and geopolitical unknowns could continue to affect demand.

“Regardless of market conditions, our priority is clear,” she said. “Deliver sustainable, profitable growth by deepening customer value, sharpening efficiency and deploying capital with discipline.”

CDW closed out Q4 2025 with $5.51 billion in net sales, up 6.3 percent from the same period last year. Gross profit was $1.25 billion, up 8.6 percent year over year. On Thursday, CDW stock stood at $138 per share, up 4 percent from Jan. 1.