Gartner, Inc. · IT · FY2026 Q1 · Calendar Q2 2026

Gartner Beats on EPS, Raises Guidance as AI-Driven Engagement Accelerates

Gartner's Q1 2026 results show a company turning AI investment into measurable client engagement gains and operational leverage. Adjusted EPS of $3.32 beat consensus by 11% while free cash flow rose 29% YoY, even as revenue slightly missed at $1.51B versus $1.514B estimated. Management raised full-year guidance for EBITDA, adjusted EPS, and free cash flow, and the board increased buyback authorization to $1.2B with $535M repurchased in the quarter. The central question is whether contract value growth — 1% YoY overall but 3.5% ex-Federal — can accelerate through 2026 as management expects. Engagement metrics support that case: high-impact documents grew 22%, library volume 19%, and same-day insights more than doubled QoQ. AskGartner now spans 25 languages with PowerPoint generation. The bullish score rose from 70 to 82 quarter over quarter.

Reported Before market openNYSEIndustrials $10.24B market cap
100quality score

Company context

Snapshot as of publication

Gartner, Inc. functions as a premier research and advisory enterprise, extending its reach across the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and various international markets. Its operations are structured into three main divisions: Research, Conferences, and Consulting. The Research division primarily offers a subscription service, enabling on-demand access to extensive published studies, data, industry benchmarks, and direct consultations with its expert network. The Conferences segment provides a platform for business professionals to acquire new knowledge, share insights, and foster connections. Lastly, the Consulting segment furnishes clients with market research, bespoke analyses, and direct, on-site support services. This segment specifically addresses critical IT challenges, offering practical strategies for areas such as optimizing IT expenditures, managing digital transformation, and enhancing IT sourcing processes. Founded in 1979, Gartner, Inc. has its corporate base in Stamford, Connecticut.

Earnings scorecard

Reported versus consensus
Reported EPS $3.32 Consensus $3
EPS surprise +11.0% Reported versus consensus
Reported revenue $1.51B Consensus $1.51B
Revenue surprise -0.2% Reported versus consensus

Earnings History

Estimate Beat Miss Match
IT EPS earnings history estimate and actual scatter chart 8 reported fiscal quarters and 4 future estimate-only quarters. Q4 '23 estimate $2.83 Q4 '23 actual $3.04, beat Q1 '24 estimate $2.53 Q1 '24 actual $2.93, beat Q2 '24 estimate $3.02 Q2 '24 actual $3.22, beat Q3 '24 estimate $2.37 Q3 '24 actual $2.50, beat Q2 '25 estimate $3.30 Q2 '25 actual $3.53, beat Q3 '25 estimate $2.43 Q3 '25 actual $2.76, beat Q4 '25 estimate $3.50 Q4 '25 actual $3.94, beat Q1 '26 estimate $2.99 Q1 '26 actual $3.32, beat Q2 '26 estimate $3.77 Q3 '26 estimate $2.70 Q4 '26 estimate $3.92 Q1 '27 estimate $3.70

Analyst Consensus ?

ConsensusHold18 ratings
Bullish527.8%
Neutral1055.5%
Bearish316.7%

Analyst 52W Price Targets

$151.02Current
$120Low
$245.15Average
$565High

Latest persisted target per named analyst; persisted current price from FN2's market snapshot as of Jul 31, 2026. Not an FN2 forecast.

Firm-level rating actions

FMP grade actions identify the grading firm, not a named analyst.

FirmRatingPrior ratingActionDate
Morgan Stanley Equal Weight Equal WeightMaintainJul 10, 2026
Wells Fargo Underweight UnderweightMaintainJun 24, 2026
UBS Neutral NeutralMaintainJun 12, 2026
RBC Capital Sector Perform Sector PerformMaintainMay 6, 2026
Goldman Sachs Neutral NeutralMaintainApr 28, 2026
Barclays Equal Weight Equal WeightMaintainApr 10, 2026
Truist Securities Buy BuyMaintainFeb 6, 2026
BMO Capital Market Perform Market PerformMaintainNov 6, 2025
Baird Outperform OutperformMaintainMar 21, 2025
Deutsche Bank Hold HoldMaintainNov 6, 2024
B of A Securities Buy BuyMaintainJul 31, 2024
Bank of America Buy BuyMaintainNov 4, 2019
Cantor Fitzgerald Neutral NeutralMaintainMay 8, 2019
PiperJaffray Underweight NeutralDowngradeNov 2, 2018
Piper Sandler Underweight NeutralDowngradeNov 2, 2018
Credit Suisse Outperform OutperformMaintainJul 31, 2015
Stifel Nicolaus Hold BuyDowngradeOct 24, 2014
Stifel Hold BuyDowngradeOct 24, 2014
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Named analyst price targets

Upside is calculated against the persisted current price $151.02. FMP does not supply a rating on these named-analyst rows.

FirmAnalyst52W targetPrice when postedUpsideDate
Morgan StanleyToni Kaplan$173$132.69 +14.6%Jul 10, 2026
Wells FargoJason Haas$120$129.18 -20.5%Jun 24, 2026
UBSJoshua Chan$164$148.81 +8.6%Jun 12, 2026
UBSAnalyst unavailable$170$151.18 +12.6%May 6, 2026
Morgan StanleyAnalyst unavailable$183$150.48 +21.2%May 6, 2026
RBC CapitalAnalyst unavailable$160$151.06 +5.9%May 6, 2026
Goldman SachsAnalyst unavailable$162$149.49 +7.3%May 5, 2026
Goldman SachsAnalyst unavailable$171$150.55 +13.2%Apr 27, 2026
BarclaysAnalyst unavailable$150$142.22 -0.7%Apr 10, 2026
Wells FargoAnalyst unavailable$140$155.42 -7.3%Mar 27, 2026
Truist FinancialJasper Bibb$170$156.18 +12.6%Feb 6, 2026
Goldman SachsGeorge Tong$220$157.83 +45.7%Feb 5, 2026
BMO CapitalAnalyst unavailable$188$157.83 +24.5%Feb 5, 2026
BarclaysAnalyst unavailable$180$157.83 +19.2%Feb 5, 2026
UBSAnalyst unavailable$180$155.7 +19.2%Feb 4, 2026
RBC CapitalAnalyst unavailable$175$157.62 +15.9%Feb 4, 2026
Robert W. BairdAnalyst unavailable$240$160.16 +58.9%Feb 4, 2026
Deutsche BankAnalyst unavailable$204$160.16 +35.1%Feb 4, 2026
UBSAnalyst unavailable$270$250.27 +78.8%Jan 9, 2026
Morgan StanleyAnalyst unavailable$275$255.54 +82.1%Dec 17, 2025
Truist FinancialJasper Bibb$300$233.69 +98.6%Nov 26, 2025
UBSJoshua Chan$256$230.24 +69.5%Nov 25, 2025
BMO CapitalJeffery Silber$254$233.9 +68.2%Nov 5, 2025
BarclaysAnalyst unavailable$260$227.17 +72.2%Nov 5, 2025
Wells FargoJason Haas$231$252.7 +53.0%Oct 29, 2025
BarclaysAnalyst unavailable$270$258.17 +78.8%Oct 22, 2025
Morgan StanleyAnalyst unavailable$307$244.3 +103.3%Oct 13, 2025
UBSJoshua Chan$280$256.98 +85.4%Oct 6, 2025
UBSJoshua Chan$525$432.92 +247.6%May 7, 2025
Wells FargoJason Haas$400$419.6 +164.9%May 1, 2025
UBSJoshua Chan$500$421.76 +231.1%Mar 25, 2025
Morgan StanleyToni Kaplan$528$520.68 +249.6%Oct 10, 2024
Robert W. BairdJeffrey Meuler$565$513.42 +274.1%Sep 20, 2024
BMO CapitalJeffrey Silber$510$504.03 +237.7%Jul 31, 2024
Robert W. BairdJeffrey Meuler$517$412.59 +242.3%May 1, 2024
Morgan StanleyToni Kaplan$440$416.31 +191.4%Apr 30, 2024
Deutsche BankFaiza Alwy$507$463.59 +235.7%Apr 16, 2024
UBSJoshua Chan$550$463.78 +264.2%Apr 11, 2024
Wells FargoAnalyst unavailable$387$344.96 +156.3%Feb 8, 2023
Wells FargoAnalyst unavailable$370$334.6 +145.0%Jan 13, 2023
Morgan StanleyAnalyst unavailable$342$336.52 +126.5%Jan 4, 2023
BarclaysAnalyst unavailable$350$356.27 +131.8%Dec 2, 2022
Morgan StanleyAnalyst unavailable$339$330.88 +124.5%Nov 17, 2022
BarclaysAnalyst unavailable$315$288.26 +108.6%Aug 4, 2022
Morgan StanleyAnalyst unavailable$300$292.77 +98.6%Aug 3, 2022
JefferiesHamzah Mazari$283$250.04 +87.4%May 23, 2022
Morgan StanleyAnalyst unavailable$316$270.37 +109.2%May 4, 2022
Bank of America SecuritiesHeather Balsky$340$302.66 +125.1%Apr 18, 2022
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Market reaction

prior-close to event-session close
Stock move +1.2% Event window
SPY move +0.8% Same window
Abnormal move +0.4% Stock minus SPY
Volume 2.1× Versus trailing sessions
Subsequent drift +10.2% Up to 20 sessions
ITSPY benchmark

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Transcript intelligence

What changed

Guidance sentiment shifted from maintained (Q4 2025) to raised (Q1 2026) across EBITDA, adjusted EPS, and free cash flow. The Digital Markets divestiture announced in Q4 has been completed, focusing the business entirely on core insights. AskGartner expanded to 25 languages with new PowerPoint deck generation. Same-day insight publishing more than doubled versus the prior quarter. The board increased buyback authorization to $1.2B. Bullish score rose from 70 to 82.

Guidance delta

Full-year guidance raised for EBITDA, adjusted EPS, and free cash flow. Management targeting greater than 12% EPS CAGR over three years. Prior quarter guidance was maintained. Board increased share repurchase authorization to $1.2 billion.

Key takeaways

  • Q1 revenue of $1.51B slightly missed consensus of $1.514B but grew 2% YoY.
  • Adjusted EPS of $3.32 beat estimates by 11%.
  • Free cash flow rose 29% YoY.
  • Contract value grew 1% YoY overall; ex-U.S. Federal CV up 3.5%.
  • Full-year guidance raised across EBITDA, adjusted EPS, and free cash flow.
  • Share repurchases of $535M in Q1; board raised buyback authorization to $1.2B.

Management priorities

  • Accelerate contract value growth throughout 2026, especially ex-U.S. Federal.
  • Continue aggressive free cash flow generation and stock buybacks.
  • Pursue strategic tuckin M&A to enhance capabilities.
  • Ongoing enhancements to AskGartner including new features and language support.
  • Further transformation of insights organization across impact, volume, timeliness, and user experience.

Related earnings events

Industrials

Sources

  1. Earnings call transcript and parsed analysis · 2026-05-11T10:29:34.698584+00:00
  2. FN2 earnings calendar · 2026-07-26T00:37:12.209961+00:00
  3. Polygon adjusted daily market bars · 2026-07-31T18:51:30.262934+00:00
  4. Financial Modeling Prep analyst price-target consensus and quote snapshot · 2026-07-31T18:51:30.259951+00:00

Methodology

Reported and consensus figures come from FN2's earnings event records. Market reaction and volume are calculated from daily adjusted bars around the event; abnormal move subtracts the SPY move over the same window.

Analyst target low, average, and high values are derived at request time from each named analyst's latest persisted FMP target. The current-price marker comes from FN2's persisted market snapshot. They are sell-side estimates, not an FN2 valuation or recommendation.

Transcript intelligence is a structured synthesis of the current and prior earnings-call analyses. Missing values stay missing and are never estimated.

By FN2 Research · Updated . For educational purposes only; not investment advice.