London, April 27, 2026, 20:03 BST
- JPMorgan bumped up its price target on Computacenter to 4,000p, sticking with its “overweight” call.
- On Monday, shares hit a fresh 52-week high, building on gains from Friday’s rally.
- Computacenter has lifted its 2026 outlook, citing robust demand tied to AI and data centres.
Computacenter Plc hit a fresh 52-week high Monday, as a new JPMorgan price target put the British IT services company back in the spotlight. JPMorgan bumped its target price up to 4,000p from 3,500p, sticking with an “overweight” rating, according to MarketBeat, which cited Digital Look. Investors zeroed in on Computacenter’s links to big cloud and AI infrastructure projects. MarketBeat
Timing plays a role. AI hardware names, data-centre suppliers and those exposed to bottlenecks have all been bid up lately, and Computacenter’s update on Friday offered fresh justification to circle back to the stock. Shares jumped as much as 6.3% after Computacenter announced it was on track to top full-year profit forecasts, according to Reuters.
The stock eased back by the end of Monday. Hargreaves Lansdown listed Computacenter at a post-close sell price of 3,796p and a buy price of 3,800p—down 28p, or 0.73%. Market closed, prices lagged by a minimum of 15 minutes.
Computacenter reported last week that first-quarter trading numbers came in “significantly ahead” of last year, surpassing even its own forecasts. Technology Sourcing, the division supplying IT hardware and related gear, was a standout, posting robust growth mainly thanks to hyperscale customers in North America and the UK. These hyperscalers—big cloud and data-centre operators—buy computing kit in large volumes. Computacenter plc
The company’s outlook for the first half has improved sharply, now projecting results “comfortably ahead” of what the market had been looking for—provided macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions don’t take a turn for the worse. Analyst consensus for 2026 adjusted pre-tax profit, compiled by the company, sits at 291.3 million pounds; estimates range from 284.5 million up to 297.1 million pounds. Computacenter plc
Analysts aren’t just seeing this as a one-off bump from hardware orders. Jefferies, cited by Reuters, still calls Computacenter a “clear market share gainer” thanks to ties with hyperscalers. Reuters
UBS stuck with its “buy” call, expecting adjusted pre-tax profit for the year to climb somewhere between 305 million and 310 million pounds, according to Interactive Investor’s Keith Bowman. Bowman also flagged that Computacenter’s technology sourcing division delivered a bit more than 80% of last year’s revenue, while North America drove 53% of projected 2025 sales. Interactive Investor
It’s a tight but telling read-across for competitors. On the public reseller side, Computacenter faces direct comparisons with Softcat, Atea, and SoftwareOne-Crayon as investors look for whichever European IT firms stand to win more share in the AI and data center push. Canalys founder and Informa Fellow Steve Brazier, speaking to IT Channel Oxygen, called Computacenter’s U.S. push “a masterstroke” and said it marks an “international success that few European companies have achieved.” IT Channel Oxygen
Brazier highlighted hefty data-centre capex as a key factor drawing the spotlight to the company. “This momentum feels sure to continue through 2027,” he told IT Channel Oxygen. He suggested it might even run longer. IT Channel Oxygen
Still, there’s a catch. Computacenter flagged that customers might be front-loading IT orders to lock in inventory, with hardware shortages pushing demand forward. That means a tougher bar for the second half. Softer tech budgets, currency shifts, or worsening geopolitics could all make those higher targets tougher to hit.
The company’s next hurdle comes with half-year results on Sept. 8. Investors, in the meantime, will be tracking if that North American backlog actually turns into revenue at the same clip, and if AI-related demand keeps propping things up, instead of just sparking a rush for limited hardware.
