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Stamford, Connecticut-based Gartner, Inc. (IT) operates as a research and advisory company. It operates through Research, Conferences, and Consulting segments. With a market cap of $37.4 billion, Gartner’s operations span the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally.
The IT services giant has outperformed the broader market over the past year. Over the past 52 weeks, IT stock gained 39.2%, outpacing the S&P 500 Index’s ($SPX) 24.3 returns. However, in 2024, IT is up 7.7%, underperforming SPX’s 17.2% gains on a YTD basis.
Zooming in further, IT has outperformed the Information Technology ETF Vanguard’s (VGT) 29.4% returns over the past 52 weeks but lagged behind the 17.4% gains on a YTD basis.
Shares of Gartner jumped 5.9% after the release of its strong Q2 earnings on Jul. 30. The company's revenue grew 6.1% year over year to $1.6 billion, exceeding Wall Street’s expectation. Its net income saw an annual surge of 15.9% to $229.5 million. Additionally, Gartner's contract value grew by 7.4% year-over-year to $4.9 billion on a foreign exchange-neutral basis, boosting investor confidence in the stock.
For the current fiscal year, ending in December, analysts expect Gartner to report an EPS growth of 2.2% annually to $11.58. Moreover, the company’s earnings surprise history is robust. It surpassed the consensus estimates in each of the past four quarters. Its EPS for the last reported quarter surpassed the consensus estimates by 6.3% to $3.22.
Among the 11 analysts covering the IT stock, the consensus rating is a “Moderate Buy.” That’s based on five “Strong Buy” ratings, five “Holds,” and one “Strong Sell.”
This configuration is slightly less bullish than a month ago when no analyst recommended a “Strong Sell.”
On Jul. 31, UBS (UBS) analyst Joshua Chan maintained a “Buy” rating with a price target of $580.
IT’s mean price target of $512.90 represents a premium of 5.6% from current price levels. The Street-high target of $580 indicates a potential upside of 19.4%.
On the date of publication, Aditya Sarawgi did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
