Forensic Analysis · Retail / Consumer Discretionary · as of Nov 8, 2026

CDW Corp (CDW)

A forensic read on CDW Corp built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.

B · Sound & dependable

Forensic grade

Grey Zone

Financial health

1.2

Distress distance

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

43.0%

ROE

6.8%

Revenue growth

This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.

CDW Corp earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 1.2, placing it in the Grey zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.

What the filings flag

13.6%

FY2025

Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is 13.6% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2023–FY2025 from 16.3%. After-tax operating profit was $1.3B in FY2023 and $1.2B in FY2025, with operating income at 7.9% of revenue in FY2023, 7.9% in FY2024 and 7.4% in FY2025. The capital base behind it grew +15% across FY2023–FY2025, from $7.9B to $9.1B, while the return fell 2.7 points, so the dollars added over that window earned less than the 16.3% the older base was already earning.

90% of FCF

FY2025

Shareholder returns. Returned $982M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 90% of free cash flow. Right at the limit of what free cash flow covers — little room before it's funded by debt or the balance sheet. That ratio has been CLIMBING toward the limit — 57% of free cash flow two years back — not just sitting there. Counting the $84M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 98%.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$22.42B

Revenue Growth YoY+6.8%

Revenue CAGR (2yr)+2.4%

Net Margin4.8%

Free Cash Flow$1.09B

Return on Equity43.0%

Debt / Equity2.16x

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Nov 8, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.

See a wrong number? Report an error with the filing it should match.