Unless you work in the computer industry, I suspect there’s a FTSE 100 stock that you’ve never heard of. It’s been around for over four decades and has made steady progress. But its share price has taken off over the past 12 months or so.
And after a stellar rally – its stock has doubled since July 2025 – it now finds itself in the Premier League of UK shares. Who is it? Let’s find out…
On the up
Computacenter (LSE:CCC), which joined the FTSE 100 in June, operates three divisions – technology sourcing, professional services, and managed services. But the former is the most significant, accounting for 87% of income in 2025. And at the moment, this key part of the business appears to be doing rather well.
The group’s share price responded positively on 9 July, when it released a trading update for the first six months of 2026. It reported “stronger than expected” volume growth with “hyperscale customers” in North America. As well as this, the UK delivered “excellent growth” as a result of AI-related projects.
Overall, the hardware needed for data centres is helping the business expand rapidly. Impressively, it said its order backlog was “well ahead” of the £7.1bn reported at the end of 2025, although it didn’t provide a figure.
As a result of the strong start to the year, Computacenter said it was expecting its full-year results to be “comfortably” ahead of expectations. It’s now predicting a 2026 adjusted profit before tax of £313.7m. For context, when reporting its first quarter results, it was expecting £291.3m.
What could go wrong?
Some possible concerns
An obvious risk is a slowdown in the AI sector. There appear to be conflicting stories about what’s happening with US data centres at the moment. Earlier this year, it was widely reported that around half of the anticipated capacity was either delayed or cancelled.
Yet investment appears to continue at pace. Some of the slowdown’s probably due to a lack of suitable energy grid infrastructure rather than a cooling in demand. Even so, a modest downturn could badly impact Computacenter’s share price.
Also, many of its contracts are extremely large. Due to their scale and complexity, these can be difficult to win. And when they’re fulfilled, if they aren’t replaced by others of a similar size, it could be a major problem.
My view
However, at the moment, the group’s clearly benefitting from the AI boom. For 2026-2027, combined capital expenditure for Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Oracle, is expected to top $1.5trn.
And Computacenter isn’t just about hardware. Although its service income is much smaller, it contributes disproportionately to gross profit.
Importantly, the group isn’t totally reliant on the US either. Although North America’s growing more rapidly, operations in the UK and Germany are also playing an important role in boosting earnings.
That’s why I recently added a few of the group’s shares to my ISA. In my opinion, Computacenter’s one of many exciting UK shares that are worth considering right now.
Should you invest £5,000 in Computacenter Plc right now?
When investing expert Mark Rogers and his team have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the flagship Twelfth Magpie Share Advisor newsletter he has run for nearly a decade has provided thousands of paying members with top stock recommendations from the UK and US markets.
And right now, Mark thinks there are 6 standout stocks that investors should consider buying. Want to see if Computacenter Plc made the list?
James Beard owns shares in Computacenter plc.
