CDW Corp (CDW) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

完整原文

使用警語:中文譯文來源為 Google 翻譯,僅供參考,實際內容請以英文原文為主

  • Operator

    Operator

  • Good morning, all, and thank you for joining us for the CDW third quarter 2024 earnings call. My name is [Karli]. I'll be coordinating your call today. (Operator Instructions)

    大家早安,感謝您參加 CDW 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。我的名字是[卡利]。今天我將協調您的電話。(操作員說明)

  • I'd now like to hand over to your host, Steve O'Brien of Investor Relations, to begin. Steve, the floor is yours.

    現在我想請主持人投資者關係部的史蒂夫·奧布萊恩 (Steve O'Brien) 開始發言。史蒂夫,地板是你的。

  • Steve O’Brien - Vice President, Investor Relations

    Steve O’Brien - Vice President, Investor Relations

  • Thank you, Karli. Good morning, everyone. Joining me today to review our third quarter 2024 results are Chris Leahy, our Chair and Chief Executive Officer; and Al Miralles, our Chief Financial Officer. Our earnings release was distributed this morning and is available on our website, investor.cdw.com, along with supplemental slides that you can use to follow along during the call.

    謝謝你,卡莉。大家早安。今天與我一起回顧我們 2024 年第三季業績的是我們的董事長兼執行長 Chris Leahy;以及我們的財務長 Al Miralles。我們的收益報告已於今天上午發布,可在我們的網站 Investor.cdw.com 上獲取,並附有補充幻燈片,您可以在電話會議期間使用這些幻燈片進行後續操作。

  • I'd like to remind you that certain comments made in this presentation are considered forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Those statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Additional information concerning these risks and uncertainties is contained in the earnings release and Form 8-K we furnished to the SEC today and in the company's other filings with the SEC.

    我想提醒您,根據 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》,本簡報中的某些評論被視為前瞻性陳述。這些陳述受到許多風險和不確定性的影響,可能導致實際結果出現重大差異。有關這些風險和不確定性的更多資訊包含在我們今天向 SEC 提供的收益報告和 8-K 表格以及公司向 SEC 提交的其他文件中。

  • CDW assumes no obligation to update the information presented during this webcast. Our presentation also includes certain non-GAAP financial measures, including non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP operating income margin, non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP earnings per share. All non-GAAP measures have been reconciled to the most directly comparable GAAP measures in accordance with SEC rules.

    CDW 不承擔更新本網路廣播中提供的資訊的義務。我們的簡報還包括某些非 GAAP 財務指標,包括非 GAAP 營業收入、非 GAAP 營業利潤率、非 GAAP 淨利潤和非 GAAP 每股收益。根據 SEC 規則,所有非 GAAP 衡量標準均已與最直接可比較的 GAAP 衡量標準進行了調整。

  • You'll find reconciliation charts in the slides for today's webcast and in our earnings release and Form 8-K. Please note, all references to growth rates or dollar amount changes in our remarks today are versus the comparable period in 2023 with net sales growth rates described on an average daily sales basis unless otherwise indicated.

    您可以在今天網路廣播的幻燈片以及我們的收益發布和 8-K 表格中找到調節圖表。請注意,除非另有說明,我們今天講話中所有提及的增長率或金額變化均與 2023 年可比期間相比,淨銷售額增長率以日均銷售額為基礎進行描述。

  • Replay of this webcast will be posted to our website later today. I also want to remind you that this conference call is the property of CDW and may not be recorded or rebroadcast without specific written permission from the company.

    這個網路廣播的重播將於今天稍晚發佈到我們的網站上。我也想提醒您,本次電話會議是 CDW 的財產,未經本公司明確書面許可,不得錄製或轉播。

  • With that, let me turn the call over to Chris.

    現在,讓我把電話轉給克里斯。

  • Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

    Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

  • Thank you, Steve. Good morning, everyone. I'll begin today's call with a brief overview of our third quarter performance and view for the balance of the year. Al will provide additional detail on our results, our capital allocation priorities and our outlook. We'll move quickly through our prepared remarks to ensure we have plenty of time for questions.

    謝謝你,史蒂夫。大家早安。我將在今天的電話會議開始時簡要概述我們第三季的業績以及對今年剩餘時間的看法。Al 將提供有關我們的業績、資本配置優先事項和前景的更多詳細資訊。我們將快速完成準備好的發言,以確保我們有足夠的時間提問。

  • Market conditions in the third quarter were challenging. While demand for cloud solutions remained strong, and we continue to see a pickup in client device growth, hardware solutions remained under pressure and the firmer footing we anticipated for our corporate channel did not materialize.

    第三季的市場狀況充滿挑戰。儘管對雲端解決方案的需求依然強勁,而且我們繼續看到客戶端設備成長加快,但硬體解決方案仍面臨壓力,我們預期的企業通路基礎穩固並未實現。

  • Within this complex environment, the team delivered gross profit of $1.2 billion, 2% lower than last year and gross margin of 21.8%, net sales of $5.5 billion, 3.5% lower on an average daily sales basis, non-GAAP operating income of $534 million, down 4% year-over-year, non-GAAP net income per share of $2.63, down 3% year-over-year. Adjusted free cash flow of $261 million.

    在這種複雜的環境下,該團隊的毛利為12 億美元,比去年下降2%,毛利率為21.8%,淨銷售額為55 億美元,每日平均銷售額下降3.5%,非GAAP 營業收入為534 美元百萬美元,年減 4%,非 GAAP 每股淨利為 2.63 美元,年減 3%。調整後自由現金流為 2.61 億美元。

  • While our success meeting customer priorities with cost-effective software and cloud solutions as well as services led to a resilient gross margin and strong cash flow, results did not meet our expectations as lower-than-projected solutions hardware drove a shortfall in volume. This shortfall in volume reflects both external factors and CDW specific dynamics. Let's take a look at each of these and most importantly, the actions in place to mitigate future impacts.

    雖然我們透過具有成本效益的軟體和雲端解決方案以及服務成功滿足了客戶的優先事項,從而帶來了有彈性的毛利率和強勁的現金流,但結果並未達到我們的預期,因為低於預期的解決方案硬體導致了銷量短缺。數量的不足反映了外部因素和車輛碰撞週的具體動態。讓我們逐一看看,最重要的是,看看為減輕未來影響而採取的行動。

  • First, the macro and IT spending environment remained challenging. Technology complexity combined with persistent economic and geopolitical uncertainty, has led to large project delays and further extension of sales cycles. Layered on top was the uncertainty around the outcome of the US election, which has dampened not only government spending but also other public sector end markets as well as spend from commercial customers.

    首先,宏觀和IT支出環境仍充滿挑戰。技術的複雜性加上持續的經濟和地緣政治不確定性,導致了專案的大規模延誤和銷售週期的進一步延長。最重要的是美國大選結果的不確定性,這不僅抑制了政府支出,也抑制了其他公共部門終端市場以及商業客戶的支出。

  • And finally, this limited demand environment has heightened competition and increased pricing intensity across all end markets. Beyond the current environment, market conditions continue to reflect the secular shifts we have experienced over the past several years, shifts that impact how customers consume IT and how customers pay for IT. Consumption shifts driven by as a Service and pay-as-you-go public and private cloud focus have contributed to market pressure on hardware solutions.

    最後,這種有限的需求環境加劇了所有終端市場的競爭並增加了定價強度。除了當前環境之外,市場狀況繼續反映了我們在過去幾年中經歷的長期變化,這些變化影響著客戶如何使用 IT 以及客戶如何為 IT 付費。由即服務和即用即付的公共和私有雲關注所驅動的消費轉變加劇了硬體解決方案的市場壓力。

  • And while our conviction toward a hybrid cloud approach for IT is unwavering, market demand continues to reflect unprecedented hardware cyclicality. Cyclicality that resulted from pandemic-driven demand for work and learn from anywhere on endpoint, collaboration and NetComm solutions, which resulted in an off-cycle demand boom, a period of supply chain volatility and subsequent digestion.

    儘管我們對 IT 混合雲方法的信念堅定不移,但市場需求繼續反映出前所未有的硬體週期性。週期性是由流行病驅動的對端點、協作和網路通訊解決方案的工作和學習需求造成的,這導致了非週期需求繁榮、供應鏈波動期和隨後的消化。

  • All of these external factors have clearly impacted our results in the quarter and over the past year. The impact has been further amplified by three CDW-specific dynamics. The first dynamic relates to our long-standing financial discipline. While our [NorthStar] to provide value to our customers, in highly competitive markets, we maintain our discipline when competitors pursue transactions at uneconomic terms.

    所有這些外部因素都明顯影響了我們本季和過去一年的表現。三個 CDW 特定動態進一步放大了這種影響。第一個動態與我們長期的財務紀律有關。雖然我們的 [NorthStar] 為客戶提供價值,但在競爭激烈的市場中,當競爭對手以不經濟的條件進行交易時,我們仍保持紀律。

  • While this contributed to lower third quarter sales and gross profit, our growth and operating margins held firm even while we mixed into lower-margin client devices. We've seen this market behavior before and expect it to dissipate as the demand environment improves.

    儘管這導致第三季銷售額和毛利下降,但即使我們混入利潤率較低的客戶端設備,我們的成長和營業利潤率仍保持強勁。我們之前已經看到過這種市場行為,並預期隨著需求環境的改善,這種市場行為將會消失。

  • Second, our exposure to larger deals. As we have deepened and broadened our strategic capabilities, including through the addition of Sirius, our ability to deliver large full stack full outcome projects has expanded. Projects at the higher dollar tier that can be pushed for any number of reasons. This can drive year-over-year performance lumpiness and depending on the size and timing of decisions impact results. Impact that is more acute during periods of low demand. You see this in commercial and federal this quarter where larger deals expected to close were deferred or reduced.

    其次,我們對較大交易的曝險。隨著我們深化和拓寬我們的策略能力,包括透過 Sirius 的加入,我們交付大型全端全成果專案的能力也得到了擴展。可以出於多種原因推動的較高美元級別的項目。這可能會導致年度業績波動,並且取決於決策影響結果的規模和時間。在需求低迷時期影響更為嚴重。您可以在本季度的商業和聯邦領域看到這一點,預計將完成的較大交易被推遲或減少。

  • And the third specific item pertains to our cloud and SaaS-based business. While we have grown this business significantly during the past several years, we have not yet achieved the scale we desire relative to our overall portfolio.

    第三個具體項目涉及我們的雲端和基於 SaaS 的業務。雖然我們在過去幾年中顯著發展了這項業務,但相對於我們的整體投資組合,我們尚未達到我們期望的規模。

  • As such, when demand for hardware softens, it has a more outsized impact on our financial results. I hope this perspective helps contextualize how CDW-specific dynamics amplify the impact of the low market demand environment and created a near-term growth challenge that we have not yet been able to overcome. These are not excuses. We own our results.

    因此,當硬體需求疲軟時,會對我們的財務表現產生更大的影響。我希望這一觀點有助於了解車輛碰撞事故特定的動態如何放大低市場需求環境的影響,並造成我們尚未能夠克服的近期成長挑戰。這些都不是藉口。我們擁有我們的成果。

  • So let's turn to what's important, what are we doing? As always, our continuous improvement in seller effectiveness is ongoing. This means delivering repeatable solutions and further streamlining the sales processes to maximize sales professional productivity.

    那麼讓我們轉向重要的事情,我們在做什麼?一如既往,我們不斷提高賣家效率。這意味著提供可重複的解決方案並進一步簡化銷售流程,以最大限度地提高銷售專業人員的生產力。

  • I'd like to highlight three additional focus areas. First, we are organically and inorganically growing our capabilities in the fastest growth, highest relevance cloud and software vectors to increase scale in both our services and as-a-service offerings. This will deliver greater choice and value to our customers and lead to greater recurring and reoccurring revenue streams.

    我想強調另外三個重點領域。首先,我們正在有機和無機地發展我們在成長最快、相關性最高的雲端和軟體載體方面的能力,以擴大我們的服務和即服務產品的規模。這將為我們的客戶提供更多的選擇和價值,並帶來更大的經常性和經常性收入流。

  • Second, we are further driving exceptional and differentiated customer experience in our core business. We are aligning our digital capabilities to serve customers in the way they want to plan, buy, consume and manage technology.

    其次,我們在核心業務中進一步推動卓越和差異化的客戶體驗。我們正在調整我們的數位能力,以客戶想要的方式來規劃、購買、消費和管理技術。

  • And finally, we are enhancing our agility and accelerating pipeline growth, we are building on our customer growth engine by opening new lanes with both existing and new customers, and we are deepening our technical and industry expertise across all end markets. We know more than anything, customers value our unbiased highly informed point of view, a point of view that enables our ability to architect and implement full stack multi-branded solutions, which cut through the noise and deliver the outcomes our customers need.

    最後,我們正在增強敏捷性並加速管道成長,我們正在透過與現有和新客戶開闢新通道來建立我們的客戶成長引擎,並且我們正在深化我們在所有終端市場的技術和行業專業知識。我們最清楚的是,客戶重視我們公正、消息靈通的觀點,這種觀點使我們能夠建立和實施全端多品牌解決方案,消除噪音並提供客戶所需的結果。

  • These are not new efforts, but we have ramped up intensity. Work is underway and progress is on track. Some actions will have fairly immediate impact and some will take more time to produce results. In the meantime, we remain laser-focused on finding pools of profitable growth and converting sales with rigor and speed.

    這些並不是新的努力,但我們加大了力度。工作正在進行中,進展步入正軌。有些行動會產生相當直接的影響,有些則需要更多時間才能產生結果。同時,我們仍然專注於尋找利潤成長點並嚴格、快速地轉換銷售。

  • Now let's take a deeper look at quarterly results. Third quarter corporate net sales decreased 4% as sales cycles further elongated, most notably for large infrastructure investments. NetComm storage and servers all declined by significant double digits. We help customers with client refresh, driving growth of high single digits.

    現在讓我們更深入地了解季度業績。由於銷售週期進一步延長,尤其是大型基礎設施投資,第三季企業淨銷售額下降了 4%。NetComm 儲存空間和伺服器均出現兩位數的大幅下降。我們幫助客戶進行客戶更新,推動高個位數成長。

  • ASPs remained strong as customers' preference continue to drive higher-end devices. Cloud solutions was a priority and gross profit from cloud increased by double digits. Small business continued to bounce along the bottom with net sales down 2%. Cloud solutions remained strong given their low upfront commitment and customers continue to sweat data center assets. Unlike other channels, client refresh continues to be pushed out as customers remain in a cash preservation mode.

    由於客戶偏好持續推動高階設備,平均售價依然強勁。雲端解決方案是重中之重,雲端的毛利成長了兩位數。小型企業繼續觸底反彈,淨銷售額下降 2%。鑑於雲端解決方案的前期承諾較低,且客戶繼續消耗資料中心資產,雲端解決方案仍然保持強勁。與其他管道不同的是,由於客戶仍處於現金保存模式,因此客戶更新繼續被推遲。

  • Security was strong and cyber threats increased for lower profile businesses. The team's success delivering services drove strong double-digit growth in both professional and managed services. Public performance was less than seasonal and sales decreased 5% year-over-year.

    對於知名度較低的企業來說,安全性很強,網路威脅也有所增加。該團隊成功提供服務,推動專業服務和託管服務實現兩位數的強勁成長。公開表現低於季節性,銷售額較去年同期下降 5%。

  • Health care was a bright spot in the quarter, delivering top line growth of 3%. The team continued its success helping health systems adopt managed services and cloud solutions to better control expenses, and they delivered strong double-digit growth in services and cloud spend.

    醫療保健是本季的一大亮點,營收成長 3%。該團隊繼續取得成功,幫助衛生系統採用託管服務和雲端解決方案來更好地控制費用,並在服務和雲端支出方面實現了兩位數的強勁成長。

  • Similar to corporate, NetComm storage and servers all declined meaningfully. Client was strong, up double digits for the second quarter in a row. Government declined 12% with both state and local and federal government performance below seasonal in the quarter.

    與企業類似,NetComm 儲存和伺服器均大幅下降。客戶表現強勁,連續第二季實現兩位數成長。政府績效下降了 12%,本季州政府、地方政府和聯邦政府的績效均低於季節性水準。

  • Market conditions were challenging for the federal team, demand impact was felt most acutely in large hardware solutions deals with federal posted double-digit declines in both NetComm and servers. Several agencies moved ahead with refresh and for the third quarter in a row, client devices increased by double digits. Cloud Solutions posted a double-digit increase in cloud gross profit.

    市場狀況對聯邦團隊來說充滿挑戰,在大型硬體解決方案交易中感受到的需求影響最為嚴重,聯邦公佈的網路通訊和伺服器都出現了兩位數的下降。一些機構繼續推進更新,客戶端設備連續第三個季度成長了兩季成長了兩位數。雲端解決方案的雲毛利潤實現了兩位數的成長。

  • State and local sales declined by low double digits, delays due to increased scrutiny and multiple approvals impacted large infrastructure hardware deals with NetComm storage and servers, all posting significant declines. Security remained a top priority, posting a strong double-digit increase in gross profit.

    州和地方銷售額出現低兩位數下降,由於審查加強和多重審批而導致的延誤影響了 NetComm 儲存和伺服器的大型基礎設施硬體交易,所有交易均大幅下降。安全性仍然是重中之重,毛利實現了兩位數的強勁成長。

  • Services performance was strong, up high double digits, driven by professional services. Education sales declined 5%. Higher ed's top line declined high single digits. Client devices were flat and slow project materialization and budget constraints and cutbacks at some public universities contributed to double-digit declines in NetComm and servers. The team's success helping institutions implement cloud solutions to drive cost elasticity deliver double-digit growth in cloud spend and gross profit.

    在專業服務的推動下,服務業績強勁,成長了兩位數。教育銷售額下降 5%。高等教育的收入下降了高個位數。客戶端設備表現平平,專案實現緩慢,一些公立大學的預算限制和削減導致網路通訊和伺服器出現兩位數下降。該團隊成功幫助機構實施雲端解決方案以提高成本彈性,實現雲端支出和毛利的兩位數成長。

  • K-12 net sales declined by low single digits, largely driven by declines in audiovisual and NetComm as school systems digested investments made over the past few years. The team continued to help refresh aging Chromebooks and delivered high teens client device growth.

    K-12 淨銷售額下降了低個位數,這主要是由於學校系統消化了過去幾年的投資,導致視聽和網路通訊業務下降。團隊持續協助更新老化的 Chromebook,並實現青少年用戶端裝置的高速成長。

  • Cloud delivered double-digit gross profit growth. Services adoption was also up double digits, driven by our managed client device life cycle solution, which streamlines the configuration, deployment, management and refresh process, the school systems can focus on what really matters, their students.

    雲端實現了兩位數的毛利成長。在我們的託管客戶端設備生命週期解決方案的推動下,服務採用率也增長了兩位數,該解決方案簡化了配置、部署、管理和刷新流程,學校系統可以專注於真正重要的事情,即學生。

  • Other, our combined UK and Canada business performed above our expectations, up 5%. Both markets experienced stronger demand, albeit off depressed results in the prior year and prior quarter. Both the UK and Canada increased by similar amounts in local currency.

    此外,我們在英國和加拿大的合併業務表現超出了我們的預期,成長了 5%。儘管去年和上一季的業績低迷,但這兩個市場的需求都更加強勁。英國和加拿大以當地貨幣計算的增幅相似。

  • As you can see, end market performance was mixed during the quarter. Let's take a look at how this translated to category performance. Portfolio performance reflected our ability to meet customers where and how they want it with client device, cloud and software and services growth, growth that was more than offset by hardware solutions decline. A low single-digit increase in transactions was more than offset by solution sales decreases of double digits.

    正如您所看到的,本季終端市場表現好壞參半。讓我們看看這如何轉化為品類表現。產品組合績效反映了我們透過客戶端設備、雲端、軟體和服務的成長滿足客戶所需的地點和方式的能力,而硬體解決方案的下降足以抵消成長的影響。交易量的低個位數成長被解決方案銷售額兩位數的下降所抵銷。

  • Hardware decreased 7%. High single-digit client device growth was more than offset by declines in NetComm, storage and servers. Software increased 3.5% with healthy gross profit growth. Cloud was an important driver of this performance, up double digits in gross profit. Services increased by 13%, driven by managed services and warranties.

    硬體下降了7%。客戶端設備的高個位數成長被網路通訊、儲存和伺服器的下降所抵消。軟體成長 3.5%,毛利健康成長。雲端運算是這項業績的重要推動力,毛利成長了兩位數。在託管服務和保固的推動下,服務增加了 13%。

  • As you can see, while demand vary, the diversity and completeness of our portfolio enables us to meet our customers where and how they need us. And that brings us to our expectations for the rest of the year. Given current conditions, we do not anticipate market demand to improve for the balance of the year, and we now look for the US. IT market to be roughly flat with 2023.

    正如您所看到的,儘管需求各不相同,但我們產品組合的多樣性和完整性使我們能夠隨時隨地滿足客戶的需求。這讓我們對今年剩餘時間有了預期。鑑於目前的情況,我們預計今年剩餘時間市場需求不會改善,我們現在將目光投向美國。IT 市場將與 2023 年大致持平。

  • We expect our results to continue to reflect the market and CDW-specific dynamics I referenced, with gross profit growth challenged given our mix of hardware and the pronounced cyclicality the market is experiencing. As we always do, we will provide our view on 2025 market conditions in our next call.

    我們預計我們的業績將繼續反映我提到的市場和車輛碰撞車輛特定的動態,考慮到我們的硬體組合和市場正在經歷的明顯週期性,毛利成長面臨挑戰。一如既往,我們將在下次電話會議中提供我們對 2025 年市場狀況的看法。

  • There's no denying that we are operating in a tough environment, but we are confident that growth will return. The demand drivers are there. Workload expansion and data explosion, increased security threats, client device obsolescence and adoption of AI-powered assistance and applications. And when demand picks up, we will be there to profitably capture these opportunities.

    不可否認,我們正在艱難的環境中運營,但我們有信心成長將會回歸。需求驅動因素就在那裡。工作負載擴展和資料爆炸、安全威脅增加、客戶端設備過時以及人工智慧輔助和應用程式的採用。當需求回升時,我們將抓住這些機會並從中獲利。

  • In the meantime, we are doubling our efforts to drive profitable growth. While this past year has been challenging for us, it has also been challenging for our customers as their trusted adviser, customers need us now more than ever. Our relationships are bolstered by our commitment to deliver value to our customers regardless of the demand environment.

    同時,我們正在加倍努力推動獲利成長。雖然過去的一年對我們來說是充滿挑戰的一年,但對於我們的客戶作為他們值得信賴的顧問來說也是充滿挑戰的,客戶現在比以往任何時候都更需要我們。無論需求環境如何,我們都致力於為客戶提供價值,這增強了我們的關係。

  • Now let me turn it over to Al, who will provide more detail on our financials and outlook.

    現在讓我將其轉交給 Al,他將提供有關我們的財務和前景的更多詳細資訊。

  • Albert Miralles - Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President

    Albert Miralles - Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President

  • Thank you, Chris, and good morning, everyone. I will start my prepared remarks with details on our third quarter performance, move to capital allocation priorities and then finish with our updated 2024 outlook.

    謝謝你,克里斯,大家早安。我將首先詳細介紹我們第三季的業績,然後討論資本配置優先事項,最後以我們更新的 2024 年展望作為結束語。

  • Third quarter gross profit of $1.2 billion was down 2.2% versus the prior year. This was below our original expectations of low single-digit growth as strength in cloud and client devices across most channels was offset by lower demand for solutions hardware. Gross margin of 21.8% was flat year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter and broadly in line with both full year 2023 levels and our expectations for 2024.

    第三季毛利為 12 億美元,比去年同期下降 2.2%。這低於我們最初預期的低個位數成長,因為大多數通路的雲端和客戶端設備的實力被解決方案硬體需求的下降所抵消。毛利率為 21.8%,與去年同期相比持平,與 2023 年全年水準和我們對 2024 年的預期基本一致。

  • Third quarter margin was aided by a higher mix into sales where CDW [Axis agent], also known as netted down revenues. This category grew by 7.1% on a reported basis, once again outpacing overall net sales growth and representing 35.7% of our gross profit compared to 32.6% in the prior year third quarter.

    第三季的利潤率得益於 CDW [安訊士代理商] 的銷售組合增加,也稱為淨收入下降。據報告,該類別增長了 7.1%,再次超過了整體淨銷售額增長,占我們毛利潤的 35.7%,而去年第三季為 32.6%。

  • Year-over-year expansion came from our teams continue to successfully serve customers with cloud and SaaS-based solutions. This led to our highest quarterly netted down revenues we've seen as a company as we met customers where they needed us most. The netted down category of solutions continues to represent an important and durable trend within our business.

    逐年擴張來自於我們的團隊繼續透過雲端和基於 SaaS 的解決方案成功地為客戶提供服務。當我們在客戶最需要我們的地方遇到他們時,這導致我們作為一家公司看到了最高的季度淨收入下降。淨額縮減類別的解決方案繼續代表我們業務中重要且持久的趨勢。

  • Third quarter gross profit was up 1.5% sequentially compared to the second quarter of 2024 on a reported basis. Net sales were up 1.7% sequentially as well. Higher year-over-year demand in the health care and international channels alongside a sequential increase in government drove growth over the second quarter.

    據報告,第三季毛利較 2024 年第二季季增 1.5%。淨銷售額也比上一季成長 1.7%。醫療保健和國際管道的同比需求增加以及政府的連續增加推動了第二季度的成長。

  • However, this growth is below both historic seasonal levels and our own expectations at the firmer footing in the corporate space that we saw at the end of the second quarter did not persist through the later months of the third quarter. We experienced deals getting pushed out and downsized as customers deliberate on where and when to spend and primarily in the solution space.

    然而,這種成長低於歷史季節性水平,而且我們對第二季末看到的企業領域更加穩固的基礎的預期並沒有持續到第三季的後幾個月。我們經歷過交易被推遲和縮小規模,因為客戶仔細考慮在哪裡和何時花錢,主要是在解決方案領域。

  • While international outpaced the US business in the third quarter, we still expect volatility in this space as customers face economic and political uncertainty. Overall, we're competing in a challenging low growth environment, and we are focused on achieving profitable growth. We acknowledge that we have work to do to better calibrate market conditions and deliver on our own expectations.

    儘管第三季國際業務超過美國業務,但由於客戶面臨經濟和政治不確定性,我們仍預期該領域會出現波動。總體而言,我們在充滿挑戰的低成長環境中競爭,我們專注於實現獲利成長。我們承認,為了更好地調整市場狀況並實現我們自己的期望,我們還有很多工作要做。

  • Turning to expenses for the second quarter. Non-GAAP SG&A totaled $667 million down 0.7% year-over-year. Expenses were down year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter, and the efficiency ratio of non-GAAP SG&A to gross profit of 55.5% was relatively in line with our expectations. We continue to look to align our cost structure with demand and have taken actions early in the fourth quarter to better align expenses to market conditions.

    轉向第二季的支出。非 GAAP SG&A 總額為 6.67 億美元,較去年同期下降 0.7%。費用較去年同期下降,非 GAAP SG&A 與毛利的效率比為 55.5%,相對符合我們的預期。我們繼續尋求使我們的成本結構與需求保持一致,並已在第四季度初採取行動,以更好地使支出與市場條件保持一致。

  • Coworker count at the end of the third quarter was approximately 15,400 up slightly over the second quarter and modestly above year-end. Customer-facing coworker count was also up slightly at approximately 11,200. Our goal is to balance growth and exceptional customer experience with greater efficiency and cost leverage from our broader operations.

    第三季末的員工人數約為 15,400 人,比第二季略有增加,略高於年底。面向客戶的同事人數也略有增加,達到約 11,200 人。我們的目標是在成長和卓越的客戶體驗與更廣泛的業務中提高效率和成本槓桿之間取得平衡。

  • Non-GAAP operating income totaled $534 million, down 4% versus the prior year, driven by our volume shortfall offset by slightly lower expenses year-over-year. Non-GAAP operating income margin of 9.7% was down from 9.9% in the prior year, but up from 9.4% in the second quarter.

    非 GAAP 營業收入總計 5.34 億美元,比前一年下降 4%,這是由於我們的銷售缺口被同比略低的費用所抵消。非 GAAP 營業利潤率為 9.7%,低於去年同期的 9.9%,但高於第二季的 9.4%。

  • Our non-GAAP net income of [$355] million in the quarter, down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. With third quarter weighted average diluted shares of $134.9 million, non-GAAP net income per diluted share was $2.63.

    本季我們的非 GAAP 淨利為 [3.55 億美元],年減 3.9%。第三季加權平均稀釋股票為 1.349 億美元,非 GAAP 稀釋每股淨利為 2.63 美元。

  • Moving ahead to the balance sheet. At period end, net debt was roughly $4.9 billion. Net debt is down $91 million from the second quarter and has decreased by approximately $184 million since year-end 2023. During the quarter, we issued $600 million of 2030 senior notes and $600 million of 2034 senior notes. We issued the combined $1.2 billion to settle the tender offers of both the 2024 and 2025 senior notes and for general corporate purposes that will maximize strategic flexibility.

    繼續看資產負債表。期末淨債務約 49 億美元。淨債務較第二季減少 9,100 萬美元,自 2023 年底以來減少約 1.84 億美元。本季度,我們發行了 6 億美元的 2030 年優先票據和 6 億美元的 2034 年優先票據。我們發行了總計 12 億美元的資金,用於結算 2024 年和 2025 年優先票據的要約收購,並用於一般公司目的,以最大限度地提高戰略靈活性。

  • Since Q3 end, we have fully redeemed the 2024 notes. Liquidity remains strong with cash plus revolver availability of approximately $2.2 billion. The 3-month average cash conversion cycle was 17 days, up 2 days from the prior year and at the lower end of our targeted range of high teens to low 20s. This cash conversion reflects our effective management of working capital, including asset management of our inventory levels.

    自第三季末以來,我們已全額贖回 2024 年票據。流動性依然強勁,現金加左輪手槍的可用量約為 22 億美元。3 個月平均現金轉換週期為 17 天,比前一年增加了 2 天,處於我們目標範圍(高 10 到低 20)的下限。這種現金轉換反映了我們對營運資金的有效管理,包括對庫存水準的資產管理。

  • As we've mentioned in the past, timing and marketing dynamics will influence working capital in any given quarter or year. We continue to believe our target cash conversion range remains the best guidepost for modeling working capital longer term.

    正如我們過去所提到的,時機和行銷動態將影響任何特定季度或年度的營運資金。我們仍然相信,我們的目標現金轉換範圍仍然是長期營運資本建模的最佳指南。

  • Adjusted free cash flow was $261 million in the quarter, roughly consistent with our expectations. Year-to-date, adjusted free cash flow was a healthy $764 million and 80% of our non-GAAP net income within our stated rule of thumb of 80% to 90% of non-GAAP net income. We are on track to meet our 2024 objectives.

    本季調整後自由現金流為 2.61 億美元,大致符合我們的預期。年初至今,調整後自由現金流為健康的 7.64 億美元,佔非 GAAP 淨利潤的 80%,符合我們規定的非 GAAP 淨利潤 80% 至 90% 的經驗法則。我們正在努力實現 2024 年的目標。

  • For the quarter, we utilized cash consistent with our 2024 capital allocation objectives, including returning approximately $100 million in share repurchases and $83 million in the form of dividends. We remain committed to our target to return 50% to 75% of adjusted free cash flow to shareholders via the dividend and share repurchases in 2024.

    本季度,我們使用的現金與 2024 年資本分配目標一致,包括以股票回購形式返還約 1 億美元,以股息形式返還 8,300 萬美元。我們仍致力於實現 2024 年透過股利和股票回購將調整後自由現金流的 50% 至 75% 返還給股東的目標。

  • That brings me to our capital allocation priorities. Our first capital priority is to increase the dividend in line with our non-GAAP net income growth. We're announcing an approximate 1% increase of our dividend to $2.50 annually, our 11th consecutive year of increasing the dividend. We will continue to prudently manage our dividend with respect to the growth environment and target a roughly 25% payout ratio of non-GAAP net income going forward.

    這讓我想到了我們的資本配置優先事項。我們的首要資本優先事項是根據我們的非公認會計原則淨利成長來增加股利。我們宣布將股息增加約 1%,達到每年 2.50 美元,這是我們連續 11 年增加股息。我們將根據成長環境繼續審慎管理股息,並將未來非公認會計準則淨利潤的股息率目標定為約 25%。

  • Our second priority is to have the right capital structure in place. We ended the third quarter at 2.3x net leverage within our targeted range of 2x to 3x. We will continue to proactively manage liquidity while maintaining flexibility as evidenced by our recent debt financings.

    我們的第二要務是建立正確的資本結構。截至第三季末,我們的淨槓桿率為 2.3 倍,處於 2 倍至 3 倍的目標範圍內。我們將繼續積極管理流動性,同時保持靈活性,正如我們最近的債務融資所證明的那樣。

  • Finally, our third and fourth capital allocation priorities of M&A and share repurchases remain important drivers of shareholder value. We continually evaluate opportunities that could accelerate our 3-part strategy for growth. Year-to-date, we've utilized over $350 million of cash on share repurchases and have over $730 million of authorization remaining under our current share repurchase program. And that leads us to our outlook.

    最後,我們的第三和第四資本配置重點-併購和股票回購仍然是股東價值的重要驅動力。我們不斷評估可以加速我們的三部分成長策略的機會。年初至今,我們已使用超過 3.5 億美元的現金進行股票回購,目前的股票回購計畫還剩超過 7.3 億美元的授權。這引導我們展望未來。

  • The uncertain market conditions we operated under throughout 2023, have persisted well into 2024. Demand has been below what we originally anticipated and customer sentiment remains cautious across the majority of end markets.

    我們在 2023 年全年營運的不確定市場條件一直持續到 2024 年。需求低於我們最初的預期,大多數終端市場的客戶情緒仍然保持謹慎。

  • Last quarter, we spoke about the slow start to the year for 2024 IT spending and shared our expectations for tough continued conditions to persist in the near term. That was the case and was moderately worse than even -- than we even expected in the third quarter.

    上個季度,我們談到了 2024 年 IT 支出開局緩慢,並分享了我們對短期內持續嚴峻情況的預期。情況就是如此,而且比我們第三季的預期還要糟糕一些。

  • Customers still have a compelling need to address priorities such as cloud workload growth, increasing security threats aging client devices, but uncertain macroeconomic conditions and a complex technology landscape continue to weigh on customer demand for solutions hardware.

    客戶仍迫切需要解決雲端工作負載成長、日益增加的安全威脅、客戶端設備老化等優先事項,但不確定的宏觀經濟條件和複雜的技術環境持續影響客戶對解決方案硬體的需求。

  • Given these conditions, our updated 2024 expectation is for a low single-digit gross profit decline. This implied seasonality is slightly below historical levels for the fourth quarter and second half gross profit and net sales. We maintain our expectation for 2024 gross margin to be similar to the full year 2023 and much like we've seen year-to-date in 2024.

    鑑於這些條件,我們更新的 2024 年毛利預期為個位數低幅下降。這隱含的季節性因素略低於第四季和下半年毛利和淨銷售額的歷史水準。我們維持對 2024 年毛利率與 2023 年全年相似的預期,並且與 2024 年迄今的毛利率非常相似。

  • Finally, we expect our full year non-GAAP earnings per diluted share to be down mid-single digits year-over-year. Please remember, we hold ourselves accountable for delivering our financial outlook on a full year constant currency basis.

    最後,我們預期全年非公認會計原則攤薄每股收益將年減中個位數。請記住,我們有責任以全年不變貨幣為基礎提供我們的財務前景。

  • Moving to modeling thoughts for the fourth quarter. We anticipate low to mid-single-digit gross profit declines compared to the prior year, with gross margin slightly above the first 3 quarters of 2024 but below the fourth quarter of 2023 level. This leads to a slightly worse than seasonal sequential fourth quarter.

    轉向第四季的建模想法。我們預計毛利與前一年相比將出現低至中個位數的下降,毛利率略高於 2024 年前三個季度,但低於 2023 年第四季的水平。這導致第四季的業績略低於季節性。

  • Traditionally, the fourth quarter is meaningfully lower than the third quarter principally due to seasonally lower demand from education and government customers. But this fourth quarter, we also do not anticipate this being offset by seasonally strong demand from corporate and small business customers.

    傳統上,第四季度明顯低於第三季度,主要是因為教育和政府客戶的季節性需求下降。但在第四季度,我們預計這種情況也不會被企業和小型企業客戶的季節性強勁需求所抵銷。

  • Moving down the P&L. We expect fourth quarter operating expenses to be similar to the level of fourth quarter of 2023 on a dollar basis. Finally, we expect fourth quarter non-GAAP earnings per diluted share to decline in the high single-digit range year-over-year. That concludes the financial summary. As always, we'll provide updated views on the macro environment and our business on our future earnings calls.

    損益表向下移動。我們預計第四季度營運支出以美元計算將與 2023 年第四季的水平相似。最後,我們預期第四季非公認會計準則攤薄每股收益將年減至高個位數範圍。財務摘要到此結束。像往常一樣,我們將在未來的財報電話會議上提供有關宏觀環境和我們業務的最新觀點。

  • And with that, I will ask the operator to open it for questions. We ask each of you to limit your questions to one with a brief follow-up. Thank you.

    然後,我會要求接線員打開它來提問。我們要求你們每個人將你們的問題限制為一個並進行簡短的跟進。謝謝。

  • Operator

    Operator

  • (Operator Instructions)

    (操作員說明)

  • Adam Tindle, Raymond James.

    亞當·廷德爾,雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

  • Adam Tindle - Analyst

    Adam Tindle - Analyst

  • I just wanted to start, as we analyze this quarter, understand tough macro to predict volumes, but I really wanted to ask about the negative operating leverage down the P&L. And taking a step back, I think what investors really like about CDW is the variable cost model ability to kind of flex up and down the volumes. I understand some of the rationale in the prepared remarks that this seems to be a pattern for the past few quarters.

    我只是想開始,當我們分析本季時,了解預測交易量的艱難宏觀,但我真的想問損益表中的負營運槓桿。退一步來說,我認為投資者真正喜歡 CDW 的是變動成本模型能夠上下調整交易量。我理解準備好的評論中的一些理由,即這似乎是過去幾季的一種模式。

  • So I guess the question would be twofold. One for Chris. If you could maybe just assess what is changing and why the negative drop-through is increasingly severe down the P&L, sounds like you decided to implement some restructuring, so maybe you can tie in some of the rationale for that?

    所以我想這個問題是雙重的。一份給克里斯。如果你可以評估正在發生的變化以及為什麼損益表中的負下降越來越嚴重,聽起來你決定實施一些重組,所以也許你可以結合一些理由?

  • And then secondly, for Al, on that restructuring, if you could just help us with the size and what it does to the model in 2025? I think it's about a 10% to 15% of head count based on the reports that we've seen. So just trying to rightsize how we should think about OpEx moving forward.

    其次,對於 Al 來說,關於重組,您能否幫助我們確定 2025 年的規模以及它對模型的影響?根據我們看到的報告,我認為大約佔總人數的 10% 到 15%。因此,我們只是想調整一下我們應該如何思考未來的營運支出。

  • Albert Miralles - Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President

    Albert Miralles - Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President

  • Yes, Adam. Actually, this is Al. I will start just to give you a little bit of commentary on the quarter and operating leverage, and I'll let Chris jump in thereafter. So first -- on the quarter, first, I would just say, Adam, we continue to hold strongly to our variable cost model and the impact therein.

    是的,亞當。事實上,這是艾爾。我將首先向您提供一些有關本季度和營運槓桿的評論,然後我將讓克里斯介入。首先,在本季度,我只想說,亞當,我們繼續堅定地堅持我們的可變成本模型及其影響。

  • For the quarter, if you actually look at our non-GAAP SG&A expenses relative to GP, we came in just about at that 55% range, which we've talked about that being kind of the target that we would have. It's maybe slightly higher than we would have anticipated for the quarter, but that was more of a, I'll call it, denominator factor that is the GP was lower than expected.

    對於本季度,如果你實際上看看我們相對於 GP 的非 GAAP SG&A 費用,我們的支出大約在 55% 的範圍內,我們已經說過這​​就是我們的目標。它可能略高於我們對本季的預期,但這更多的是一個,我稱之為分母因素,即 GP 低於預期。

  • So in the quarter, we did get the movement in our variable expenses as we would expect. I think the challenge there, otherwise, Adam, is that we have a fixed cost base. And while the demand environment has moved pretty dramatically, we certainly have taken action on our fixed cost to try to align with what we were seeing in current demand and what we were seeing as we go forward, it becomes a matter of just the timing they're in on that fixed cost base.

    因此,在本季度,我們的變動費用確實出現了我們預期的變化。亞當,我認為那裡的挑戰是我們有固定的成本基礎。雖然需求環境發生了相當大的變化,但我們當然已經對固定成本採取了行動,試圖與我們在當前需求中看到的以及我們在未來所看到的保持一致,這只是他們的時間問題處於固定成本基礎上。

  • That said, as you know, going into the fourth quarter we did take some actions that would reduce our fixed cost base, and that included a reduction in our workforce. Just to size that for you, Adam, it was about 2% of our workforce. So it was not at the level that you quoted there, but certainly, that would align us more closely with where we think we need to be from a fixed cost base perspective.

    也就是說,如您所知,進入第四季度,我們確實採取了一些行動來減少我們的固定成本基礎,其中包括減少我們的勞動力。亞當,按照你的計算,這大約占我們勞動力的 2%。因此,這不是您在那裡引用的水平,但當然,這將使我們更緊密地與我們認為從固定成本基礎角度來看需要達到的水平保持一致。

  • Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

    Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

  • Yes. And Adam, I would just add that we're being very prudent as we look at where we rightsized the business while we continue to invest behind areas that we see will be pockets of growth. So a lot of focus on the demand environment, preserving profitability and also delivering exceptional customer experience for our teams.

    是的。亞當,我想補充一點,我們在考慮調整業務規模時非常謹慎,同時繼續投資我們認為會帶來成長的領域。因此,我們非常關注需求環境,保持獲利能力,並為我們的團隊提供卓越的客戶體驗。

  • Adam Tindle - Analyst

    Adam Tindle - Analyst

  • Got it. Just a quick clarification since I know that was a long one. When you were talking about the increased pricing intensity and competition, just to clarify, is that higher competition between VARs? Or is that higher competition in pricing amongst the OEM vendors?

    知道了。只是快速澄清一下,因為我知道這是一個很長的問題。當您談到定價強度和競爭加劇時,我想澄清一下,VAR 之間的競爭是否更加激烈?還是 OEM 供應商之間的定價競爭更加激烈?

  • Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

    Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

  • Yes, I mean, it's a little of both. It's a little of both.

    是的,我的意思是,兩者兼而有之。兩者兼而有之。

  • Operator

    Operator

  • David Vogt, UBS.

    大衛‧沃格特,瑞銀集團。

  • David Vogt - Analyst

    David Vogt - Analyst

  • And maybe one for Chris to start. So Chris, I think I heard in your prepared remarks that you'd expect sort of the US IT market to be flat in 2024, and yet you're confident that you can continue to outgrow it. But obviously, the macro has been tough and it looks like you're going to undergrow the market this year. Did I hear that correctly?

    也許克里斯可以先開始。Chris,我想我在您準備好的發言中聽說,您預計 2024 年美國 IT 市場將持平,但您有信心繼續成長,超越這個市場。但顯然,宏觀情勢一直很嚴峻,看起來今年的市場成長將會不足。我沒聽錯嗎?

  • And how should we think about what that means going forward? I know you're not giving 2025 guidance, but I think that's a little bit disappointing relative to where investors might have been thinking given the challenging backdrop. Is it just really a reflection of where the hardware solutions are ending up?

    我們該如何思考這對未來意味著什麼?我知道您沒有給出 2025 年的指導,但我認為,在充滿挑戰的背景下,相對於投資者可能想到的情況,這有點令人失望。這真的只是硬體解決方案最終走向的反映嗎?

  • And then along those lines, we're hearing from some of our checks that networking and even to a lesser degree, storage and servers are getting a little bit better. Maybe what are you seeing a little bit differently than maybe what we're picking up and what others are maybe communicating in the marketplace?

    然後,沿著這些思路,我們從一些檢查中得知,網路、甚至在較小程度、儲存和伺服器都在變得更好。也許您看到的內容與我們正在收集的內容以及其他人可能在市場上交流的內容略有不同?

  • Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

    Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

  • Yes. Let me just start with the market share. That was the beginning of the question. Look, we continue to hold ourselves ample for delivering a premium to the IT market rate of growth. And looking at this year and this quarter, given the low hardware demand and taking into account our mix, I'd say we're holding serve and feeling very confident that we've performed extremely well in certain areas, say cloud, Software-as-a-Service, services as an example, but other areas have been challenged for us.

    是的。讓我從市場佔有率開始。這就是問題的開始。看,我們繼續保持足夠的能力為 IT 市場的成長率提供溢價。看看今年和本季度,考慮到硬體需求較低並考慮到我們的組合,我想說我們正在保持服務,並且非常有信心我們在某些​​領域表現得非常好,比如雲端、軟體- as-a -Service,以服務為例,但其他領域對我們來說也受到了挑戰。

  • And our view is that hardware will come back. It's a matter of when will that inflection point take place, and we'll be well positioned to help our customers in those circumstances. You asked specifically about networking and storage.

    我們的觀點是硬體將會回歸。拐點何時發生只是問題,在這種情況下,我們將能夠很好地幫助我們的客戶。您特別詢問了網路和儲存方面的問題。

  • Look, what we are seeing is we're seeing traction in clients pick up. And I wouldn't yet call it the inflection point, but we do think we're outperforming in that area. Data center has really been the area where customers have paused, have moved, spend to the cloud and are taking longer time to make decisions. That means we're seeing storage, networking and servers all quite muted. But once we see the client refresh start, one would expect to see data center begin to pick up again.

    看,我們看到客戶的吸引力正在增加。我還不會稱其為拐點,但我們確實認為我們在該領域表現出色。資料中心確實是客戶暫停、遷移、遷移到雲端並需要更長時間做出決策的領域。這意味著我們看到儲存、網路和伺服器都相當安靜。但一旦我們看到客戶端刷新開始,人們就會期望看到資料中心開始再次復甦。

  • As I said before, the catalysts are all there. Explosion in data, the need for massive bandwidth for networking. Digital transformation isn't going anywhere. Security continues to get more and more focused. So the catalysts for growth are all there. I think we just got to get to the other side of the uncertainty that we sit. And certainly, after we get through the election, there'll be a little more certainty.

    正如我之前所說,催化劑都在那裡。數據爆炸性成長,需要大量網路頻寬。數位化轉型不會有任何進展。安全性繼續變得越來越受關注。所以成長的催化劑都在那裡。我認為我們必須克服我們所面臨的不確定性。當然,在我們完成選舉之後,會有更多的確定性。

  • Albert Miralles - Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President

    Albert Miralles - Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President

  • And David, maybe I'll just add a couple of data points -- it's okay. Just add a couple of data points there. So obviously, all of those categories, Chris mentioned in the solutions space, have been softer. We also have the tough comps from a NetComm perspective. Q3 is the last quarter with those tough comps. So while we would not say that demand is picking up meaningfully on NetComm, at least the comps get a bit easier.

    大衛,也許我會添加一些數據點——沒關係。只需在那裡添加幾個數據點即可。克里斯在解決方案領域提到,顯然,所有這些類別都變得更加柔和。從 NetComm 的角度來看,我們也有艱難的競爭。第三季是競爭激烈的最後一季。因此,雖然我們不會說 NetComm 的需求明顯增加,但至少比較變得更容易了。

  • And then the other data point I would just give you is from our vantage point, just hardware overall, we've now seen 8 quarters of declines on hardware. And so again, Chris noted some of the catalysts we think ultimately will play out. We've seen a pretty prolonged period of hardware cyclicality.

    然後我要給你的另一個數據點是從我們的有利角度來看的,只是整體硬件,我們現在已經看到硬體連續 8 個季度下降。克里斯再次指出了我們認為最終會發揮作用的一些催化劑。我們已經看到了相當長的硬體週期性。

  • David Vogt - Analyst

    David Vogt - Analyst

  • Great. And just as a quick follow-up. So when we think about looking at the recovery or the potential recovery around the timing and the recovery, I know you're not giving '25 outlook. But what are some of the milestones that you're looking at that gives you increased confidence heading into '25?

    偉大的。就像快速跟進。因此,當我們考慮圍繞時間和復甦來考慮復甦或潛在復甦時,我知道您不會給出 25 年的前景。但是,您看到的哪些里程碑可以讓您在進入 25 年後更有信心呢?

  • I know obviously, the election is coming up, and hopefully, that kind of changes maybe customer conversations. Anything else sort of maybe at a high level that you're thinking about in your conversations that give you some degree of maybe a leading edge or a leading indicator in terms of what you're thinking about for 2025.?

    我顯然知道,選舉即將到來,希望這種改變可能會改變客戶的對話。您在對話中考慮的任何其他可能在高水平上可能為您在 2025 年的想法方面提供某種程度的領先優勢或領先指標的事情。

  • Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

    Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

  • Yes. I think about the things that are creating the current environment and whether or not those change. So uncertainty around the economic environment and geopolitical will have an impact. Obviously, the election policy outcomes of the election are going to be very different. That will have an impact most likely. Those are the things that are at the forefront of our mind, how the economy is doing, frankly, how it's perceived to be doing -- going to be doing in the future and the volatility across the world are the two things that we look at most closely.

    是的。我會思考哪些因素正在創造當前的環境,以及這些因素是否會改變。因此,經濟環境和地緣政治的不確定性將會產生影響。顯然,這次選舉的選舉政策結果將會大不相同。這很可能會產生影響。這些是我們最關心的事情,坦白說,經濟狀況如何,人們認為未來會如何,以及世界各地的波動性是我們關注的兩件事最密切。

  • Now the complexity in IT is not going anywhere. So the requirement now to have more business and IT leaders involved in decision-making. It's our new norm is kind of longer decision cycles for these larger complex projects. And so we're getting used to that, but we don't see that going away anytime soon. That's what we focus on.

    現在,IT 的複雜性並沒有消失。因此,現在需要有更多的業務和 IT 領導者參與決策。我們的新規範是這些大型複雜專案的決策週期更長。我們已經習慣了這種情況,但我們認為這種情況不會很快消失。這就是我們關注的重點。

  • Operator

    Operator

  • Erik Woodring, Morgan Stanley.

    艾瑞克‧伍德林,摩根士丹利。

  • Erik Woodring - Analyst

    Erik Woodring - Analyst

  • I have two as well. Chris, if we can just go back to some of your comments on product demand. Obviously, lots of commentary about challenges in infrastructure solutions, double-digit declines with many customers across NetComm, servers and storage. I just want to make sure I understand, are those rates of declines that you're referencing reflective of the broader market?

    我也有兩個。克里斯,我們能否回顧一下您對產品需求的一些評論。顯然,有許多關於基礎設施解決方案挑戰的評論,許多客戶在 NetComm、伺服器和儲存方面出現了兩位數的下降。我只是想確保我明白,您引用的這些下跌率是否反映了更廣泛的市場?

  • Or are you seeing those declines simply because you are walking away from some lower profitability deals and therefore you are underperforming in those specific end markets and maybe at the end market, though they aren't declining nearly as much as maybe you're seeing? I'd just love to get a better understanding of this is kind of CDW's view or if this is the broader market view? And then I just have a follow-up.

    或者您看到這些下降只是因為您放棄了一些盈利能力較低的交易,因此您在這些特定的終端市場甚至可能在終端市場表現不佳,儘管它們的下降幅度並不像您所看到的那麼大?我只是想更了解這是 CDW 的觀點還是更廣泛的市場觀點?然後我有一個後續行動。

  • Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

    Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

  • Yes. Sure. I would say it is the broader market view possibly tempered a bit by CDW not racing to the bottom because we are walking away from economic deals. It's important to keep protect profitability, et cetera. So I would say it's a bit of both. I would say it is market and consistent with market, but also we are not racing to the bottom.

    是的。當然。我想說的是,更廣泛的市場觀點可能會因為 CDW 沒有競相觸底而有所緩和,因為我們正在放棄經濟交易。保持獲利能力等很重要。所以我想說兩者兼具。我想說這是市場,而且與市場一致,但我們也不會競相觸底。

  • Erik Woodring - Analyst

    Erik Woodring - Analyst

  • Okay. All right. That's helpful. And then maybe just on the second question, I'd love if you could maybe elaborate a bit on the market competition comments because you're highlighting market competition, which I can't necessarily remember you citing explicitly before.

    好的。好的。這很有幫助。然後,也許就第二個問題而言,我希望您能詳細說明市場競爭的評論,因為您強調了市場競爭,我不一定記得您之前明確引用過這一點。

  • And to be fair, you guys have encountered several challenging and competitive market environments in the history of the company and still manage to materially outperform peers over those years. And so maybe my question is just what has changed with competition that is new? And really, why would that competitive intensity ever go away even in a period of stronger demand?

    公平地說,你們在公司歷史上遇到過幾次充滿挑戰和競爭的市場環境,但這些年來仍然設法大幅超越同行。所以也許我的問題是新的競爭發生了什麼變化?事實上,為什麼即使在需求強勁的時期,競爭強度也會消失呢?

  • Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

    Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

  • Yes, it's a great question, and we do reflect on that. We are used to have a highly competitive environment. What I would say we're feeling right now and this quarter and the past couple of quarters, in particular, is irrational pricing.

    是的,這是一個很好的問題,我們確實對此進行了反思。我們已經習慣了競爭激烈的環境。我想說的是,我們現在、本季以及過去幾季的感受是定價不合理。

  • And we know how to compete in the market, but we are seeing deals at the low margin, low margin, et cetera, and that just is not our business model. The last time I saw intensity in pricing like this was years ago. So it has been a little bit more unique over the last couple of quarters, and we're very good with our discipline around financials. So we're holding firm. That's really the answer here. It's a little unique over the last couple of quarters, and we've seen it really tick up.

    我們知道如何在市場上競爭,但我們看到的是低利潤、低利潤等交易,而這不是我們的商業模式。我上次看到這樣的定價強度是幾年前的事了。因此,在過去的幾個季度中,它變得更加獨特,而且我們在財務方面的紀律非常好。所以我們堅定不移。這確實是答案。在過去的幾個季度裡,它有點獨特,我們已經看到它確實在成長。

  • Erik Woodring - Analyst

    Erik Woodring - Analyst

  • And just to clarify, that is a rational pricing from VARs, from disti's or from both?

    澄清一下,這是來自 VAR、來自分銷商還是來自兩者的合理定價?

  • Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

    Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

  • I would say it's up and down the value chain. So competitors who are value-added resellers, direct competitors, distributors, I wouldn't perceive in that chain as much. The behaviors that are going on, every competitor is feeling the elongation in the sales cycle, the chunking up agreements to make them smaller. The deferrals, the reductions, the different ways they want to go at saving money or deferring spending, short-term ROI. That is a market dynamic right now that everybody is feeling.

    我想說這是價值鏈的上下游。因此,作為增值經銷商、直接競爭對手、分銷商的競爭對手,我不會在該鏈條中看到太多。從正在發生的行為來看,每個競爭對手都感受到了銷售週期的延長,以及協議的分割以縮小規模。延期、減少、他們想採取的不同方式來節省資金或延遲支出、短期投資報酬率。這是現在每個人都感受到的市場動態。

  • Operator

    Operator

  • (Operator Instructions)

    (操作員說明)

  • Amit Daryanani, Evercore.

    阿米特·達裡亞納尼(Amit Daryanani),Evercore。

  • Amit Daryanani - Analyst

    Amit Daryanani - Analyst

  • I have two as well. I guess, Chris, just to continue this discussion you had, you folks are on track to have two years of consecutive gross profit declines at the company. And it's something you haven't seen at CDW, I think historically, even if I go back to [03 or 04] or [07 or 08] time frames. I understand all the macros that you're talking about, but it feels like the way CDW has now been getting this macro uncertainty, volatility is worse than what you've seen before?

    我也有兩個。克里斯,我想,為了繼續你們的討論,你們公司的毛利將連續兩年下降。我認為從歷史上看,這是你在 CDW 上從未見過的東西,即使我回到 [03 或 04] 或 [07 或 08] 時間框架。我理解你所談論的所有宏觀因素,但感覺 CDW 現在已經獲得了這種宏觀不確定性,波動性比你之前看到的更糟?

  • And why do you think that's happening? And what's changed perhaps in the company that you've had multiple years of gross profit declines, which frankly you haven't had historically?

    您認為為什麼會發生這種情況?多年來毛利下降的公司可能發生了什麼變化,坦白說,歷史上從未有過這種情況?

  • Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

    Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

  • Yes, a fair question. I'll tell you we're a company in transformation, and we have been in transformation for several years now. So when you think about the CDW specific factors I mentioned, they have been having a real impact on results, amplified by the unit hardware demand environment. So if we just think about the third one I mentioned, which is our cloud and SaaS business, we've been investing behind that business and growing incredibly rapidly over the last 5 years. All of our acquisitions have had a cloud services hook to them.

    是的,這是一個公平的問題。我告訴你,我們是一家正在轉型的公司,我們已經轉型了好幾年了。因此,當您考慮我提到的 CDW 特定因素時,您會發現它們對結果產生了真正的影響,並被單位硬體需求環境放大。因此,如果我們只考慮我提到的第三個業務,即我們的雲端和 SaaS 業務,我們一直在對該業務進行投資,並且在過去 5 年中實現了令人難以置信的快速成長。我們所有的收購都與雲端服務掛鉤。

  • Nonetheless, given the full portfolio that we have, we have not yet attained the scale that we want to be at relative to the full portfolio. So when hardware is muted, it now has even more of an outsized impact because of the secular movement towards cloud. And we're growing that, but we still have a very high mix of hardware.

    儘管如此,考慮到我們擁有的完整投資組合,我們尚未達到我們想要的相對於完整投資組合的規模。因此,當硬體靜音時,由於雲端的長期發展,它現在會產生更大的影響。我們正在擴大這一規模,但我們仍然擁有非常高的硬體組合。

  • The other thing is the strategic investments that we've made over the year have been incredibly fruitful in developing broader and deeper strategic capabilities so that we can deliver full stack, full outcomes projects. These now we're seeing a much larger, higher dollar tier levels, and those are the kind of projects that are lumpy.

    另一件事是,我們一年來所做的策略投資在開發更廣泛、更深層的策略能力方面取得了令人難以置信的成果,使我們能夠交付全端、全面成果的專案。現在我們看到了更大、更高的美元級別,而這些項目都是不穩定的。

  • We used to talk about this with our federal contracts all the time. The very big deals become lumpier and depending on when decisions are made, they can get deferred, they can move around, the size can change and therefore, it can impact results. And we saw that it was commercial and federal this quarter.

    我們過去一直在聯邦合約中談論這個問題。非常大的交易變得更加不穩定,根據決策的時間,它們可能會被推遲,它們可能會移動,規模可能會發生變化,因此,它可能會影響結果。我們看到本季它是商業和聯邦的。

  • And the last one is what I just talked about in the prior question, which is our financial discipline. We're going to continue to maintain our gross margin discipline as we move forward, and we've hit a couple of quarters where we're seeing behavior that is extreme, pricing behavior that's extreme.

    最後一個就是我剛才在上一個問題中談到的,就是我們的財務紀律。隨著我們的前進,我們將繼續維持我們的毛利率紀律,並且我們已經經歷了幾個季度的極端行為和極端定價行為。

  • So I just -- I'd say it is a combination of our strategic investments that are working incredibly well vis-a-vis value to the customer and growth in fast-growing high relevance areas. In an environment where hardware has been and continues to be muted on a persistent basis. It's a bit of a double whammy for us. But I'm confident in the growth hardware turns around. Go ahead, Amit.

    所以我只是 - 我想說這是我們策略投資的結合,這些投資在客戶價值和快速成長的高相關領域的成長方面發揮了令人難以置信的作用。在硬體已經並將繼續持續靜音的環境中。這對我們來說有點雙重打擊。但我對硬體的成長充滿信心。繼續吧,阿米特。

  • Amit Daryanani - Analyst

    Amit Daryanani - Analyst

  • I was going to say, Chris, would it be fair to say that as growth resumes presumably in '25, that you should start to see gross profit dollars increase back to the way it normally does it. The fair way to think about it.

    我想說,克里斯,公平地說,隨著增長大概在 25​​ 年恢復,你應該開始看到毛利恢復到正常水平。公平的思考方式。

  • And then maybe my clarification was going to be, both from Cisco and Microsoft, some of your bigger vendors, on how they're changing the channel pricing and the channel strategy for 2025. Do you see that being a bit of a driver for you as you think about your growth, especially the Asian sales piece of the business into next year and beyond?

    然後,也許我的澄清是來自思科和微軟,以及一些較大的供應商,他們將如何改變 2025 年的通路定價和通路策略。當您考慮自己的成長時,尤其是明年及以後業務的亞洲銷售部分,您是否認為這對您有一定的推動作用?

  • Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

    Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

  • Yes. As I think about the changes, I think about investing behind our cloud business and really, the cloud flywheel where we are trying to -- we are delivering a seamless experience from professional managed services to consumption and transaction-based services to managed services around the cloud. And by doing that, delivering higher value to our customers, but that's precisely aligned with what our vendors are the CSPs the Ciscos of the world exactly aligned with what they're incenting and what they want.

    是的。當我想到這些變化時,我想到了對我們的雲端業務進行投資,實際上,我們正​​在努力的雲端飛輪——我們正在提供從專業託管服務到消費和基於交易的服務,再到圍繞整個行業的託管服務的無縫體驗。透過這樣做,為我們的客戶提供更高的價值,但這與我們的供應商、CSP、世界各地的思科完全一致,與他們的激勵和想要的東西完全一致。

  • So we think we're well positioned and that will be a positive benefit for us as we move into 2025 and beyond because it aligns with our strategy and our value that we can deliver to customers. And frankly, it drives -- because of the services wrap around it, it drives better economics for CDW and a stickier relationship with the customer.

    因此,我們認為我們處於有利位置,這將在我們進入 2025 年及以後為我們帶來積極的好處,因為它符合我們的策略以及我們可以為客戶提供的價值。坦白說,它推動了——由於圍繞它的服務,它為車輛碰撞險帶來了更好的經濟效益,並與客戶建立了更牢固的關係。

  • Operator

    Operator

  • Matt Sheerin, Stifel.

    馬特謝林,史蒂菲爾。

  • Matt Sheerin - Analyst

    Matt Sheerin - Analyst

  • Yes. Just another question regarding the comments on client device growth. I think you said mid-single-digit growth, but it sounds like that was skewed more towards the public markets and not so much Corporate in SMB. And you talked about macro, is the expectation for AI PCs? Is that another reason why we're seeing that push out? And are you seeing any kind of growth in Corporate SMB versus enterprise there?

    是的。這是關於客戶端設備成長評論的另一個問題。我想你說的是中等個位數的成長,但聽起來這更偏向公開市場,而不是中小企業的企業。還有您談到宏觀,是對AI PC的期待嗎?這是我們看到這種推出的另一個原因嗎?您是否看到中小型企業與企業相比有任何成長?

  • Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

    Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

  • Yes, Matt, thanks for the question. On the client side, we're actually seeing -- we're seeing growth across almost all of the end markets. Corporate was -- we saw growth in Corporate. It's small business is where we are seeing our customers kind of in a cash preservation mode and so pushing off the client device. But we really have seen a nice pickup in clients across almost all the end markets. So that's been positive.

    是的,馬特,謝謝你的提問。在客戶端方面,我們實際上看到幾乎所有終端市場都在成長。企業是-我們看到了企業的成長。在小型企業中,我們看到客戶處於現金保存模式,因此拒絕使用客戶端設備。但我們確實看到幾乎所有終端市場的客戶都有不錯的成長。所以這是積極的。

  • Albert Miralles - Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President

    Albert Miralles - Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President

  • Yes. And Matt, I'll just add the -- what has been driving it has been more refresh of aging fleets and need for customers to get on with this activity. It's been less in the way of 11 drivers and less in the way of AI PCs.

    是的。馬特,我只想補充一點——推動這一趨勢的是老化車隊的更新以及客戶繼續這項活動的需要。11 名駕駛者的方式越來越少,人工智慧 PC 的方式也越來越少。

  • Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

    Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

  • So next year, as AI PCs do come on board, that will be another nice accelerant for PC's refresh.

    因此,明年,隨著人工智慧 PC 的出現,這將成為 PC 更新換代的另一個良好促進劑。

  • Matt Sheerin - Analyst

    Matt Sheerin - Analyst

  • Okay. Great. And then relative to your guidance on gross margin out for Q4, which is down year-over-year, and you had a big bump last year. Is that because you're expecting sort of a lower percentage of the advanced hardware solutions, which carries a higher margins or services? What are the other reasons behind that?

    好的。偉大的。然後,相對於您對第四季毛利率的指引(年減),去年您的毛利率出現了大幅成長。這是因為您期望先進硬體解決方案的比例較低,但其利潤或服務較高?這背後還有哪些原因呢?

  • Albert Miralles - Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President

    Albert Miralles - Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President

  • Yes. Great question, Matt. It anticipates that we'll continue to see softness in the solutions side of the business, which comes at moderately higher gross margins. It assumes that client will continue to tick along, not in an outsized way, but that client would continue to move along.

    是的。好問題,馬特。預計我們將繼續看到解決方案業務方面的疲軟,其毛利率適度較高。它假設客戶將繼續前進,不是以過大的方式,但客戶將繼續前進。

  • And then we would expect that we would get our typical pickup in more than netted down revenues in the fourth quarter. I'll just note the delta versus Q4 of 2023 is that maybe a little bit modest pick there on the netted down revenues versus last year because it was quite outsized at the end of the year.

    然後我們預計第四季的收入將超過淨收入的回升。我只想指出,與 2023 年第四季相比,與去年相比,淨收入下降可能有點溫和,因為年底的收入規模相當大。

  • Operator

    Operator

  • Keith Housum, Northcoast Research.

    Keith Housum,北海岸研究中心。

  • Keith Housum - Anallyst

    Keith Housum - Anallyst

  • Two questions as well, if I could. Chris, just trying to reconcile something here. CDW has always [taught] as being a relationship-driven company, providing value for its customers. But we're hearing about transactional competition and losing deals that way. Perhaps could you break it out for us like how much of this is more transactional, where people are just going with the lowest price versus how much of your business is really driven by that relationship and the value you provide.

    如果可以的話,還有兩個問題。克里斯,只是想在這裡協調一些事情。CDW 一直被認為是一家關係驅動型公司,為客戶提供價值。但我們聽說過交易競爭並因此失去交易。也許您能為我們解釋一下,其中有多少是更具交易性的,人們只是以最低的價格進行交易,而您的業務有多少是真正由這種關係和您提供的價值驅動的。

  • Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

    Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

  • I would say that when you look at our portfolio and the spectrum of our relationships with our customers, over 90% of those relationships and those customers would tell you that they buy from CDW because of the value we deliver, the access to the full portfolio, the expertise that we bring to bear, the ease with which they can do business. The agility with which we deliver. That is what every customer says to me when I meet with them.

    我想說的是,當您查看我們的產品組合以及我們與客戶的關係範圍時,超過90% 的這些關係和這些客戶會告訴您,他們從CDW 購買產品是因為我們提供的價值、獲得完整產品組合的機會,我們提供的專業知識,他們可以輕鬆開展業務。我們交付的敏捷性。這是每個客戶在與我見面時對我說的。

  • Regarding the pricing and the transaction issues, there are times when there are large rollouts, for example, that -- where the economics just gets lower and lower and lower. And those are transaction purchases, don't typically have the value wrapped around, and those are the ones that we are less interested in pursuing.

    關於定價和交易問題,有時會出現大規模推廣,例如,經濟效益會變得越來越低。這些是交易購買,通常沒有價值,而這些是我們不太感興趣的追求。

  • Keith Housum - Anallyst

    Keith Housum - Anallyst

  • Okay. Appreciate it. And then you talk about like the move to the as-a-service model. I guess as I think about that, still relatively in it's infancy, but it's still going to grow as we go from here. So how much of, I guess, a challenge or a headwind presents a hardware sales as we kind of think about just the future?

    好的。欣賞它。然後你談到了向「即服務」模式的轉變。我想,當我想到這一點時,它仍然相對處於起步階段,但隨著我們從這裡開始,它仍然會成長。那麼,我想,當我們思考未來時,硬體銷售會面臨多少挑戰或逆風?

  • Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

    Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

  • I didn't hear the whole question, I'm sorry.

    我沒有聽到整個問題,抱歉。

  • Albert Miralles - Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President

    Albert Miralles - Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President

  • I think I got it, Keith. Here's what I would say. Obviously, we've seen pronounced cyclicality in hardware, and that would typically be a pretty significant upfront spend. Think about that as kind of CapEx from a customer's perspective. What we've seen kind of counteracting that in some respects is an increase in our netted down revenues, including SaaS and cloud.

    我想我明白了,基斯。這就是我要說的。顯然,我們已經看到硬體有明顯的周期性,這通常是相當大的前期支出。從客戶的角度將其視為資本支出。我們所看到的在某些方面抵消了這一點的是我們淨收入的增加,包括 SaaS 和雲端。

  • Now Keith, historically, a lot of that business would be what we would call recurring where we are both seeing that business upfront and recognizing that upfront. But I would say that over the last year or two, more of that business has been moving to a recurring nature, and that is where customers are more making judgments on what they want to spend on cloud, but they're consuming it as they go. And therefore, that shows up over time for us.

    基思,從歷史上看,許多業務都是我們所說的重複業務,我們既可以預先看到該業務,也可以預先認識到該業務。但我想說的是,在過去的一兩年裡,更多的業務已經轉向重複性,這就是客戶更多地判斷他們想在雲上花費什麼,但他們在消費時會消費它。因此,隨著時間的推移,這對我們來說會顯現出來。

  • Now I wouldn't call that a material dollar amount at this point, but it is growing. And therefore, I would say that is part of the calculus of kind of the air pocket when you have pronounced cyclicality of hardware and more business that starts to come on as we go. Certainly, as we continue to grow that sector in that category, we'll report more on kind of that split in details with respect to reoccurring business versus recurring. Hopefully, that's helpful.

    現在我不會稱其為實質金額,但它正在增長。因此,我想說,當硬體具有明顯的周期性並且隨著我們的發展開始出現更多業務時,這是空氣袋計算的一部分。當然,隨著我們繼續在該類別中發展該部門,我們將詳細報告經常性業務與經常性業務的詳細情況。希望有幫助。

  • Operator

    Operator

  • Samik Chatterjee, JPMorgan.

    薩米克‧查特吉,摩根大通。

  • Samik Chatterjee - Analyst

    Samik Chatterjee - Analyst

  • I guess if I can start with one. Chris, you mentioned in your prepared remarks and in some of the responses as well the exposure to large projects that you have on account of the capabilities that you've invested in over the years.

    我想我是否可以從一個開始。克里斯,您在準備好的演講和一些回復中提到,以及由於您多年來投資的能力而對大型項目的接觸。

  • I mean as you outlined some actions you're taking on the cost structure side. But as you look at the business and the lumpiness that, that drives in terms of exposure to large projects, are there any changes you're contemplating on that side in balancing out the business between larger projects or transactions versus do you still -- or do you still believe that's the right sort of balance or margin mix to have in the portfolio and really just wait for the market to come back on that front? And I have a follow-up.

    我的意思是,正如您概述的那樣,您在成本結構方面正在採取一些行動。但是,當您審視業務以及大型專案帶來的不穩定性時,您在平衡大型專案或交易之間的業務方面是否正在考慮進行任何改變,或者您仍然這樣做嗎?存在正確的平衡或保證金組合,並且真的只是等待市場在這方面回歸?我有一個後續行動。

  • Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

    Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

  • Yes. The way I'd answer that question is kind of yes and yes. In other words, we do have actions underway. Look, we're looking at this quarter in 2025 as an opportunity to accelerate the most important parts of our strategy that we've been working on for several years.

    是的。我回答這個問題的方式是肯定的。換句話說,我們確實正在採取行動。看,我們將 2025 年這個季度視為加速推進我們多年來一直致力於的策略中最重要部分的機會。

  • But one of them, for example, would be our digital work. We've done a lot of foundational work in digital, and we just need to go faster. And that really means aligning our digital capabilities and our people to deliver personalized recommendations that match how customers want to buy plan consume and manage their assets.

    但其中之一就是我們的數位作品。我們在數位化方面已經做了很多基礎工作,我們只需要走得更快。這實際上意味著調整我們的數位能力和我們的員工,以提供個人化的建議,以滿足客戶購買計劃、消費和管理資產的方式。

  • So think about this in terms of large deals and perhaps smaller deals as an intersection of our sales professionals moving up a value chain and being available to learn and enabled by digital tools to sell at the highest point of the value chain while creating a seamless digital experience for our customers, a flywheel like, if you will, so that we can deliver both velocity in that digital flywheel and serve customers how they like to be served, self-serve, et cetera, and value with our account managers and sales professionals working together.

    因此,請從大型交易和小型交易的角度來考慮這一點,因為我們的銷售專業人員在價值鏈上向上移動,並且可以透過數位工具進行學習和支持,從而在價值鏈的最高點進行銷售,同時創造無縫的數位化平台。服務,並與我們的客戶經理和銷售專業人員一起創造價值一起工作。

  • So that's one area as an example where we -- our intention is to drive velocity in deals at all sizes, lower tier levels while we continue to build engagements at high-value levels.

    因此,這就是一個例子,我們的目的是在繼續建立高價值水準的參與的同時,提高各種規模、較低層級的交易速度。

  • Samik Chatterjee - Analyst

    Samik Chatterjee - Analyst

  • Okay. Got it. Quickly for my clarification question. I know you mentioned the election-related uncertainty and some of the slower spend on the public sector federal side as well. I mean we've seen elections in the past as well. Have you had instances? Are you looking at any scenarios in which you do end up getting like a budget flush post the election outcomes. Are there any sort of scenarios or any indications of that happening in the fourth quarter.

    好的。知道了。快速回答我的澄清問題。我知道您提到了與選舉相關的不確定性以及公共部門聯邦的一些支出放緩。我的意思是我們過去也經歷過選舉。你有實例嗎?您是否考慮過在選舉結果後最終會出現預算充裕的情況?第四季是否會出現任何情況或跡象?

  • Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

    Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

  • Yes, hard to tell. I would say this election cycle, I wouldn't -- I would say there's nothing really normal about it. So hard to tell. I mean, right now, what's happening with the federal government is we've got the knock-on effects from the delayed budget previously. And now we've got -- while we saw strong spending in Department of Defense, we're seeing less than we'd hoped because they're waiting to see what the administration's priorities are.

    是的,很難說。我會說這個選舉週期,我不會——我會說這沒有什麼真正正常的。很難說。我的意思是,現在聯邦政府正在發生的事情是我們受到了先前預算延遲的連鎖反應。現在,雖然我們看到國防部的支出強勁,但我們看到的支出比我們希望的要少,因為他們正在等待政府的優先事項是什麼。

  • So we -- right now, we just see the federal government paused. One would hope we'll have some more clarity post election, but then the timing comes down to Congress and the President in getting the budget fast.

    所以我們——現在,我們只是看到聯邦政府暫停了。人們希望我們在選舉後能有更多的明確性,但接下來的時間取決於國會和總統快速制定預算。

  • Albert Miralles - Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President

    Albert Miralles - Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President

  • Maybe Samik, I'll just add on the back end there. Obviously, we play all of the different scenarios and how things could play out when we look at the quarterly outlooks. I would say our Q4 outlook has the appropriate level of caution baked into it based on all the factors that we talked about, the external factors, CDW specifics. And certainly, that would include any political uncertainty.

    也許 Samik,我會在後端添加。顯然,我們會考慮所有不同的情況,以及當我們查看季度前景時事情會如何發展。我想說,根據我們討論的所有因素、外部因素、車輛碰撞險具體情況,我們對第四季度的前景保持了適當程度的謹慎。當然,這將包括任何政治不確定性。

  • Operator

    Operator

  • Thank you very much. We currently have no further questions. So I'd like to hand back to Chris Leahy, Chair and CEO, for any closing remarks.

    非常感謝。目前我們沒有進一步的問題。因此,我想請主席兼執行長克里斯·萊希 (Chris Leahy) 發表結束語。

  • Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

    Christine Leahy - Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer

  • Okay. Thank you, operator. Let me close by recognizing the incredible dedication and hard work of our 15,000 coworkers around the globe. It's their ongoing commitment to our customers in this challenging environment that makes us successful over the long term.

    好的。謝謝你,接線生。最後,我要對我們全球 15,000 名同事令人難以置信的奉獻精神和辛勤工作表示認可。正是他們在這個充滿挑戰的環境中對客戶的持續承諾使我們取得了長期的成功。

  • Thank you to our customers for the privilege and opportunity to help you achieve your goals, and thank you to those listening for your time and continued interest in CDW. Al and I look forward to talking to you next quarter.

    感謝我們的客戶給予我們幫助您實現目標的特權和機會,並感謝那些花時間聆聽以及對 CDW 持續關注的人們。艾爾和我期待下個季度與您交談。

  • Operator

    Operator

  • As we conclude today's call, we would like to thank everyone for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.

    在我們結束今天的電話會議時,我們要感謝大家的加入。現在您可以斷開線路。