Updates share movement in paragraph 2

Feb 4 (Reuters) - CDW CDW.O beat fourth-quarter sales and profit estimates on Wednesday, as clients continue to invest in artificial intelligence and cloud adoption.

Shares of the Vernon Hills, Illinois-based company rose 4.9% in early trading.

The IT solutions provider has benefited from demand for core projects, including network security and cloud migration, as customers prioritize spending on security, reliability and operational continuity despite tighter budgets.

"While customers continued to experience uncertain business conditions, our ability to deliver outcomes across the hardware, software, and services continuum drove strong gross profit growth and margin," CFO Albert Miralles said.

The upbeat results were supported by CDW's broad product range and exposure to multiple customer groups. Healthcare and commercial customers continue to invest, while growth in small businesses is being driven by an uptake of cloud solutions and AI workflows.

The company reported net sales of $5.51 billion for the quarter ended December 31, beating analysts' average estimate of $5.29 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

It posted adjusted earnings of $2.57 per share, ahead of estimates of $2.44.

(Reporting by Arnav Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

((Arnav.Mishra@thomsonreuters.com;))