Computacenter PLC's (LSE:CCC) latest guidance upgrade has prompted analysts to ask whether the market is still underestimating how much profit the IT infrastructure group can generate from the artificial intelligence investment boom.
Shares in the FTSE 100 group were among the top risers on Monday, as brokers Stifel and Panmure Liberum were among those to lift their forecasts after the company said at the end of last week that annual results would be comfortably ahead of previous expectations.
The City analyst consensus is for profit before tax to rise to about £335 million for 2026, up from £314 million last year, with 2027 forecasts also moving higher.
The key change, according to both brokers, is that growth is no longer being driven solely by booming sales to hyperscale data centre customers.
Instead, stronger margins, an expanding services business and improving trading in the UK and Germany suggest earnings are beginning to catch up with revenue growth.
Panmure Liberum said most of the latest upgrade reflected AI-driven demand in the US, while the UK had performed much better than expected and Germany had benefited as election-related disruption faded.
Stifel upgraded the shares to 'buy' from 'hold' with a 5,235p target price, saying: "While we had previously been concerned about earnings growth not following the rise in revenue due to lower margin mix, this seems to be improving with some help from acquisitions."
The broker sees adjusted earnings per share growing 26% this year rather than the 6% forecast six months ago.
Panmure also raised its target price to 4,080p from 3,400p, but kept its 'hold' rating.
Both brokers also highlighted Computacenter's record committed order backlog, arguing that rising demand for AI data centre infrastructure is improving revenue visibility even against tougher second-half comparatives.
"Importantly, backlog, which was up 200% year on year to £7.1 billion at the end of FY25, has risen to a new record level and is not simply being worked down," wrote Stifel analyst Peter McNally.
"The shares could be vulnerable to AI sentiment shifts, but datacenter build activity remains high and the company still has circa £0.5 billion in cash to deploy for further acquisitions or other self-help measures."
Computacenter shares rose 2.7% to 4,576p by late Monday morning.
