AI interpretation based on checked source excerpts. Issuer assertions and evidence limitations remain explicit.
Policy quality-scores-3: six equally weighted categories. The overall score requires full coverage. Missing inputs are not zero. Qualitative grades are sourced interpretations, not probabilities. 5/6 · 31/10/2026
Moat50
Equal-weight average of four evidence-backed rubric grades (0–4), scaled to 100.
structural advantage · 2/4 · Proprietary methodologies, expert access and the established Gartner brand support differentiated subscriptions, with actual renewals corroborating customer value. Limited entry barriers constrain the advantage. Comparative superiority, substantial switching costs and network effects are not demonstrated by the supplied passages.
durability · 2/4 · Retention across 2022–2025 and approximately $6.5 billion of unsatisfied obligations at June 30, 2026 on contracts longer than one year support persistence; most obligations pertain to Insights. Flat first-half currency-neutral Insights revenue and limited entry barriers constrain confidence in longer-term protection.
customer dependency · 2/4 · Enterprise client retention of 84%–85% in 2023–2025 and generally non-cancelable subscriptions lasting twelve months or longer demonstrate repeat demand and contractual commitment. They do not establish operational dependence or costly switching. The approximately $58 million federal revenue decline in 2025 demonstrates exposure to discretionary budgets.
erosion resilience · 2/4 · Retention recovered to 85% in 2025, while June 2026 contract value grew 2% year over year excluding currency effects. Flat underlying first-half Insights revenue and realized federal losses temper resilience. AI substitution and inadequate intellectual-property protection remain prospective risks, rather than established causes of deterioration.
Pricing power—
Insufficient evidence for every rubric criterion; no category score is inferred.
realized pricing · — · Management describes an objective to improve pricing and possible changes in product pricing, but supplies no isolated realized pricing outcome. Contract value is an annualized point-in-time contractual measure; its growth and reported revenue changes cannot separate price from volume, product mix or other contractual activity.
retention · 3/4 · Directly reported enterprise client retention was 84% in 2023 and 2024 and 85% in 2025, demonstrating strong repeated demand. The earlier 86.3% result in 2022 qualifies the trend. This measure counts retained enterprises relative to prior-year enterprises; it is neither revenue retention nor evidence of accepting higher prices.
margin resilience · 2/4 · Insights gross contribution margin rose from 76% to 78% for the six months ended June 30, 2026 despite approximately flat currency-neutral revenue. Consulting margin fell from 39% to 35% alongside revenue contraction. This demonstrates mixed segment resilience, without isolating pricing or establishing a moat from margins.
contractual freedom · 2/4 · Generally non-cancelable, non-refundable subscriptions lasting twelve months or longer protect agreed terms, and disclosures contemplate changing product pricing. Government cancellation and funding clauses weaken protection. The passages do not establish unilateral mid-contract repricing rights, and realized federal losses demonstrate that contractual protection has meaningful limits.
Predictability99
5 consecutive published annual periods. Equal weights: nondeclining revenue frequency; revenue-growth volatility (5–40pp); positive FCF frequency; FCF-margin volatility (3–20pp). Stability indicator, not a growth forecast.
- Nondeclining revenue years (%)
- 100.00
- Revenue growth volatility (pp)
- 4.49
- Positive FCF years (%)
- 100.00
- FCF margin volatility (pp)
- 3.36
- observedAnnualPeriods
- 5.00
Financial strength60
Equal-weight grades: debt/FCF (1–8x), net debt/earnings before interest and tax (0–5x), interest service (1–12x), current ratio (0.75–2x). Earnings use reported operating income, an original issuer-reported unadjusted EBIT reconciled to net income, income tax and signed net interest, or reported pretax profit plus reported gross interest expense. Reported EBIT is distinct from GAAP operating income and gross interest. Interest service uses earnings/interest expense; if unavailable, it uses reported operating cash flow/cash interest paid, without relabeling cash paid as accrued expense. Nonpositive cash flow/earnings score 0 for their service component; reported zero interest with a positive numerator scores 100. Net cash scores 100 for net leverage. Missing disclosures remain unavailable. General nonfinancial-company rubric, not a credit rating; exceptional and nonoperating gains are not normalized out. IFRS finance-cost and cash-flow classifications retain their reported scope.
- debtFcfGrade
- 78.04
- netDebtEbitGrade
- 75.45
- interestCoverageGrade
- 65.34
- currentRatioGrade
- 19.89
- Debt / FCF (x)
- 2.54
- Net debt / operating income (x)
- 1.23
- Interest coverage (x)
- 8.19
- Current ratio (x)
- 1.00
Capital allocation100
Three-year equal-weight indicators: pretax return on average invested capital (0–25%; equity + debt − cash, each year and its prior year), share-count growth (0–5%, lower better), share-based cost/revenue (2–20%, lower better), consolidated FCF/net income (0–1x). Return uses reported operating income, an original issuer-reported unadjusted EBIT reconciled to net income, income tax and signed net interest, or EBIT calculated from reported pretax profit plus reported gross interest expense; the issuer-reported EBIT is distinct from GAAP operating income and gross interest; exceptional/nonoperating gains are not normalized out. Share-based cost uses the reported cash-flow add-back or, if absent, separately reported recognized compensation expense; the latter never becomes an FCF adjustment. Nonpositive net income scores 0 for cash conversion; absent income/FCF stays unavailable. ROIC remains undefined for nonpositive invested capital; the explicit asset-return alternative does not change the ROIC chart. Missing financial inputs alone never trigger an alternative. Does not establish acquisition quality or buyback timing.
- 3-year pre-tax operating return (%)
- 62.17
- 3-year average dilution (%)
- -2.04
- 3-year average SBC / revenue (%)
- 2.36
- cashConversionGrade
- 100.00
Management56
Equal-weight average of four evidence-backed rubric grades (0–4), scaled to 100.
capital discipline · 2/4 · Cash generation and the completed Digital Markets sale demonstrate financing capacity and portfolio action. However, approximately $2.0 billion of 2025 repurchases exceeded $1.3 billion of operating cash flow; first-half 2026 repurchase payments likewise exceeded operating cash flow. The $150 million impairment is adverse allocation evidence; repurchase value creation is unproven.
incentive alignment · 3/4 · Equity represents 88% of CEO target compensation and 74% for other NEOs, with four-year vesting and hedging and pledging prohibited. All NEOs met ownership guidelines at December 31, 2025. Unvested awards count toward compliance, and CEO retirement eligibility permits full vesting, qualifying otherwise strong disclosed alignment.
execution · 2/4 · Indirect operating evidence shows higher first-half 2026 operating cash flow, maintained annual renewals, second-quarter Conferences growth and increased Consulting backlog. Flat currency-neutral Insights revenue, Consulting contraction and the Digital Markets impairment offset these achievements. These results support mixed execution without relying on promotional management descriptions.
governance · 2/4 · Disclosed safeguards include 12 independent directors out of 13, independent committees, a serving Lead Independent Director and an adopted related-party transaction review policy. The CEO's contractual nomination right limits board discretion. These actual structures support a mixed assessment; exceptional oversight effectiveness is not demonstrated.
Evidence
•INSIGHTS. Gartner delivers independent, objective insights to leaders across an enterprise through subscription services that include on-demand access to published content, data and benchmarks, and direct access to a network of more than 2,400 business and technology experts located around the globe.
2025 Form 10-K, Business — Insights subscription content and expert access · Filed 12/02/2026
We combine our proprietary research methodologies with extensive industry and academic relationships to create Gartner products and services that address each role across an enterprise.
2025 Form 10-K, Business — proprietary research methodologies · Filed 12/02/2026
•Our leading brand name - We have provided critical, trusted insights under the Gartner name for more than 40 years.
2025 Form 10-K, Competition — Gartner brand history · Filed 12/02/2026
While our Insights client retention rate was 85% and 84% for 2025 and 2024, respectively, there can be no guarantee that we will continue to maintain this rate of client renewals.
2025 Form 10-K, Risk Factors — 2025 and 2024 Insights client retention · Filed 12/02/2026
While our Research client retention rate was 84% and 86.3% for 2023 and 2022, respectively, there can be no guarantee that we will continue to maintain this rate of client renewals.
2023 Form 10-K, Risk Factors — 2023 and 2022 Research client retention · Filed 15/02/2024
Limited barriers to entry exist in the markets in which we do business.
2024 Form 10-K, Risk Factors — limited barriers to entry · Filed 13/02/2025
Disruptive technologies, including in areas of artificial intelligence (“AI”) and machine learning, are rapidly changing the environment in which we, our clients, and our competitors operate and could affect the nature of how we generate revenue.
2025 Form 10-K, Risk Factors — prospective AI and machine-learning disruption · Filed 12/02/2026
Additionally, the laws (including evolving and uncertain copyright law as it applies to the training, use, developments, and deployment of AI) and enforcement mechanisms to protect our intellectual property from unauthorized use in new technologies like AI and machine learning may be inadequate.
2025 Form 10-K, Risk Factors — intellectual-property protection and AI · Filed 12/02/2026
In 2025, our revenues with U.S. federal government agencies declined approximately $58 million year over year, primarily due to reductions in discretionary spending.
2025 Form 10-K, Risk Factors — realized U.S. federal government revenue decline · Filed 12/02/2026
Our Insights subscription contracts are typically for twelve months or longer.
2025 Form 10-K, Risk Factors — typical Insights subscription duration · Filed 12/02/2026
Insights contracts are generally non-cancelable and non-refundable, except for government contracts that may have cancellation or fiscal funding clauses, which have not historically resulted in material cancellations.
2025 Form 10-K, Revenue Recognition — cancellation, refunds and government exceptions · Filed 12/02/2026
Performance Obligations — For customer contracts that are greater than one year in duration, the aggregate amount of the transaction price allocated to performance obligations that were unsatisfied (or partially unsatisfied) as of June 30, 2026 was approximately $6.5 billion.
June 2026 Form 10-Q, Revenue — unsatisfied obligations for contracts longer than one year · Filed 04/08/2026
The Company expects to recognize $2.3 billion, $3.0 billion and $1.2 billion of this revenue (most of which pertains to Insights) during the remainder of 2026, the year ending December 31, 2027 and thereafter, respectively.
June 2026 Form 10-Q, Revenue — expected recognition timing and Insights scope · Filed 04/08/2026
For the six months ended June 30, 2026, Insights revenue increased by $65.0 million compared to the same period in 2025 or 3% on a reported basis and about flat excluding the foreign currency impact.
June 2026 Form 10-Q, Segment Results — first-half Insights revenue and foreign currency impact · Filed 04/08/2026
Contract value increased to $5.3 billion at June 30, 2026, or 2% compared to June 30, 2025 excluding the foreign currency impact.
June 2026 Form 10-Q, Segment Results — Insights contract value · Filed 04/08/2026
The segment gross contribution margin was 77% and 76% for the three months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025, respectively, and 78% and 76% for the six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025, respectively.
June 2026 Form 10-Q, Segment Results — Insights gross contribution margins · Filed 04/08/2026
The segment gross contribution margin was 35% and 39% for the six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025, respectively.
June 2026 Form 10-Q, Segment Results — Consulting first-half gross contribution margins · Filed 04/08/2026
For the six months ended June 30, 2026, Consulting revenues decreased by 12% compared to the same period in 2025 on a reported basis and 13% excluding the foreign currency impact, with a decrease in labor-based consulting revenue of 13% and a decrease in contract optimization revenue of 8% each on a reported basis.
June 2026 Form 10-Q, Segment Results — Consulting first-half revenue contraction · Filed 04/08/2026
In addition, we seek to increase our revenue and operating cash flow through more effective pricing of our products and services.
2025 Form 10-K, Business — pricing objective · Filed 12/02/2026
Additionally, as we continue to adjust our products and service offerings to meet our clients’ continuing needs, we may shift the type and pricing of our products which may impact client renewal rates.
2025 Form 10-K, Risk Factors — product and pricing changes and renewals · Filed 12/02/2026
It is calculated as the annualized value of all contracts in effect at a specific point in time, without regard to the duration of the contract.
2025 Form 10-K, Business Measurements — annualized point-in-time contract-value definition · Filed 12/02/2026
Client retention is calculated on a percentage basis by dividing our current clients, who were also clients a year ago, by all clients from a year ago.
2025 Form 10-K, Business Measurements — client-retention numerator and denominator · Filed 12/02/2026
Client retention is calculated at an enterprise level, which represents a single company or customer.
2025 Form 10-K, Business Measurements — enterprise-level retention scope · Filed 12/02/2026
During 2025, we repurchased 7.0 million shares of the Company’s common stock for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $2.0 billion.
2025 Form 10-K — completed 2025 share repurchases · Filed 12/02/2026
Cash provided by operating activities was $1.3 billion and $1.5 billion during 2025 and 2024, respectively.
2025 Form 10-K — operating cash flow in 2025 and 2024 · Filed 12/02/2026
Three Months Ended
Six Months Ended
June 30,
June 30,
2026
2025
2026
2025
Number of shares repurchased (1)
3,630,175
659,883
6,940,428
960,628
Cash paid for repurchased shares (in thousands) (2)
$
547,117
$
274,483
$
1,081,754
$
437,155
(1)The average purchase price for repurchased shares was $148.93 and $417.99 for the three months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025, respectively, and $153.49 and $446.06 for the six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025, respectively.
June 2026 Form 10-Q — repurchased shares, cash payments and average purchase prices · Filed 04/08/2026
Cash provided by operating activities was $789.3 million and $697.1 million during the six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025, respectively.
June 2026 Form 10-Q, Executive Summary — first-half operating cash flow · Filed 04/08/2026
During the year ended December 31, 2025, a goodwill impairment loss of $150.0 million was recognized in the Digital Markets reporting unit.
2025 Form 10-K, Recent Developments — Digital Markets goodwill impairment · Filed 12/02/2026
Recent Developments
In February 2026, we completed the sale of the Digital Markets business, for approximately $104.8 million net of cash transferred, subject to post-close adjustments.
June 2026 Form 10-Q, Recent Developments — completed Digital Markets sale, net of cash transferred · Filed 04/08/2026
✓ 88% of our CEO’s target total compensation (74% in the case of other NEOs) is in the form of equity awards, with a focus on long-term performance.
April 2026 proxy, Compensation Discussion and Analysis — target equity compensation proportions · Filed 15/04/2026
Equity awards vest at 25% per year over four years to encourage retention.
April 2026 proxy, Compensation Discussion and Analysis — equity vesting schedule · Filed 15/04/2026
No Hedging or Pledging. We prohibit our executives from hedging or pledging with respect to company securities.
April 2026 proxy, Compensation Discussion and Analysis — executive hedging and pledging prohibition · Filed 15/04/2026
In order to align management and stockholder interests, the Company has adopted stock ownership guidelines for our executive officers as follows: the CEO is required to hold shares of Common Stock with a value at least equal to six times his base salary, and all other executive officers are required to hold shares of Common Stock with a value at least equal to three times their base salary.
April 2026 proxy, Executive Stock Ownership — required salary multiples · Filed 15/04/2026
For purposes of computing the required holdings, shares directly held, as well as vested and unvested restricted stock units and earned PSUs are counted, but not options or SARs or any unearned PSUs.
April 2026 proxy, Executive Stock Ownership — qualifying holdings and award treatment · Filed 15/04/2026
On December 31, 2025, all the NEOs were in compliance with our stock ownership guidelines.
April 2026 proxy, Executive Stock Ownership — NEO compliance as of December 31, 2025 · Filed 15/04/2026
Since Mr. Hall is retirement-eligible, his termination would be treated as a retirement for purpose of determining additional vesting of his PSUs and SARs and he would receive full vesting of his equity awards.
April 2026 proxy, Termination Benefits — CEO retirement eligibility and full equity vesting · Filed 15/04/2026
Corporate Governance Highlights:
➣
Lead Independent Director with clearly defined and robust responsibilities
➣
Majority voting for directors
➣
Proxy access right for stockholders
➣
Annual election of directors
➣
Annual Board and Committee performance self-evaluation
➣
Executive sessions after Board and Committee meetings
➣
12 out of 13 directors are independent
➣
Fully independent Board Committees
➣
Overboarding policy for directors
➣
Annual director affirmation of compliance with Code of Conduct
➣
Annual director evaluation of CEO
➣
Annual review of director compensation by the Compensation Committee
➣
Independent compensation consultant
Board Principles and Practices
Our Board Principles and Practices are reviewed annually and revised in light of legal, regulatory or other developments, as well as emerging best practices, by our Governance Committee and Board.
April 2026 proxy, Corporate Governance — board composition and governance practices · Filed 15/04/2026
Dykstra serves as our Lead Independent Director, in accordance with our Board Principles and Practices.
April 2026 proxy, Board Leadership — serving Lead Independent Director · Filed 15/04/2026
The Audit Committee has adopted a written Related Person Transaction Policies and Procedures (the “RPT Policy”), which require the Audit Committee to review and approve transactions in which (i) the aggregate amount involved is or is expected to exceed $120,000, (ii) the Company or any of its subsidiaries is a participant, and (iii) any related person has a direct or indirect interest.
April 2026 proxy, Related Person Transactions — adopted review policy and threshold · Filed 15/04/2026
Mr. Hall has an employment agreement with the Company that obligates the Company to include him on the slate of nominees to be elected to our Board during the term of the agreement.
April 2026 proxy, Board of Directors — CEO contractual nomination right · Filed 15/04/2026
During the second quarter of 2026, compared to the second quarter of 2025, Insights revenues increased by 2%, Conferences revenues increased by 15%, and Consulting revenues decreased by 9%.
June 2026 Form 10-Q, Executive Summary — second-quarter segment revenue changes · Filed 04/08/2026
Backlog increased by $17.9 million, or 9%, from June 30, 2025 to June 30, 2026, excluding the foreign currency impact.
June 2026 Form 10-Q, Segment Results — Consulting backlog growth excluding foreign currency impact · Filed 04/08/2026
