AI interpretation based on checked source excerpts. Issuer assertions and evidence limitations remain explicit.
Policy quality-scores-2: six equally weighted categories. The overall score requires full coverage. Missing inputs are not zero. Qualitative grades are sourced interpretations, not probabilities. 2/6 · 18/10/2026
Moat50
Equal-weight average of four evidence-backed rubric grades (0–4), scaled to 100.
structural advantage · 2/4 · Proprietary research, extensive expert access and an established brand are corroborated by recurring renewals. Comparative superiority, network effects and substantial switching barriers remain unproven.
durability · 2/4 · Repeated renewals and multiyear commitments support persistence, but flat currency-neutral Insights revenue and modest contract-value growth limit confidence in long-term protection.
customer dependency · 2/4 · Annual retention of 84%–85% demonstrates repeat demand, and contracts generally bind customers during their terms. Customer indispensability and costly migration are not established; federal spending reductions caused realized revenue loss.
erosion resilience · 2/4 · Renewals and positive contract-value growth indicate resilience, balanced against flat underlying Insights revenue and possible footprint contraction. AI risks are prospective and are not treated as demonstrated displacement.
Pricing power—
Insufficient evidence for every rubric criterion; no category score is inferred.
realized pricing · — · The passages disclose a pricing objective and possible renewal sensitivity, but no observed price increases, cuts, discounts or price-volume separation. Revenue and margin changes cannot resolve realized pricing.
retention · 3/4 · Directly reported enterprise retention of 84% in 2023 and 2024 and 85% in 2025 establishes strong repeated demand. This is client retention, not revenue retention, and does not establish willingness to accept higher prices.
margin resilience · 2/4 · Insights first-half gross contribution margin improved from 76% to 78% despite approximately flat currency-neutral revenue. Consulting margin fell from 39% to 35% as revenue declined. Resilience is mixed, and segment contribution excludes broader corporate costs.
contractual freedom · 2/4 · Generally non-cancelable, non-refundable subscriptions protect agreed economics over contracts typically lasting at least twelve months. Government cancellation rights weaken that protection, and unilateral mid-contract repricing rights are not disclosed.
Predictability—
Missing exact annual revenue, free cash flow or FCF margin; operating cash flow and capex must both be reported for all five years.
Financial strength—
Missing required inputs: debtFcfGrade. 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, or reported pretax profit plus reported interest expense when operating income is unavailable. 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.
- netDebtEbitGrade
- 75.45
- interestCoverageGrade
- 65.34
- currentRatioGrade
- 19.89
- Net debt / operating income (x)
- 1.23
- Interest coverage (x)
- 8.19
- Current ratio (x)
- 1.00
Capital allocation—
Missing required inputs: cashConversionGrade. 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 or, if unavailable, EBIT calculated from reported pretax profit plus reported interest expense; 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. Nonpositive invested capital has no defined return and remains unavailable. 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
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 show financing capacity and portfolio action. However, 2025 repurchases of approximately $2.0 billion exceeded operating cash flow of $1.3 billion, further substantial repurchases occurred in early 2026, and Digital Markets incurred a $150 million impairment. Repurchase value creation is unestablished.
incentive alignment · 3/4 · Actual disclosed compensation design heavily weights equity, uses four-year vesting and prohibits executive hedging and pledging. Certified performance produced actual bonus payments. Strong alignment is supported, with limitations from adjusted bonus metrics excluding federal Insights and incomplete ownership and equity-condition disclosures.
execution · 2/4 · Operating evidence shows improved first-half cash generation, continued renewals, Conferences growth and recovering Consulting backlog. Flat currency-neutral Insights revenue, Consulting contraction and the Digital Markets impairment offset those achievements. Attribution to management is indirect rather than based on reputation or promotional claims.
governance · 2/4 · A serving Lead Independent Director, disclosed Compensation Committee independence and an adopted related-party review policy establish functioning safeguards. The CEO's contractual nomination right limits board discretion, and the passages do not demonstrate exceptional oversight effectiveness.
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.
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.
Business — proprietary research methodologies and relationships · Filed 12/02/2026
•Our leading brand name - We have provided critical, trusted insights under the Gartner name for more than 40 years.
Competition — Gartner brand history; issuer characterization · 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.
Risk factors — 2025 and 2024 Insights client retention · Filed 12/02/2026
While our Research client retention rate was 84% for both 2024 and 2023, there can be no guarantee that we will continue to maintain this rate of client renewals.
Risk factors — 2024 and 2023 Research client retention · Filed 13/02/2025
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.
Revenue recognition — non-cancelable and non-refundable Insights contracts · Filed 12/02/2026
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.
Segment results — first-half 2026 Insights revenue growth · 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.
Segment results — June 2026 currency-neutral contract-value growth · Filed 04/08/2026
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.
Risk factors — potential 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.
Risk factors — uncertain intellectual-property protection against AI uses · 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.
Risk factors — realized 2025 federal-government revenue decline · 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.
Revenue — remaining performance obligations on 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.
Revenue — expected recognition of remaining obligations, mostly Insights · Filed 04/08/2026
We are a trusted advisor and an objective resource for close to 15,000 enterprises in approximately 90 countries and territories— across all major functions, in every industry and enterprise size.
Business — 2023 enterprise footprint description · Filed 15/02/2024
We are a trusted advisor and an objective resource for close to 14,000 enterprises in approximately 90 countries and territories— across all major functions, in every industry and enterprise size.
Business — 2024 enterprise footprint description · Filed 13/02/2025
We are a trusted advisor and an objective resource for over 13,000 enterprises in approximately 90 countries and territories— across every major function, geography, industry and sector.
Business — 2025 enterprise footprint description · Filed 12/02/2026
In addition, we seek to increase our revenue and operating cash flow through more effective pricing of our products and services.
Business — pricing objective rather than realized pricing results · 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.
Risk factors — product and pricing changes may affect renewals · Filed 12/02/2026
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.
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.
Segment results — first-half Consulting 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.
Segment results — first-half Consulting revenue decline · Filed 04/08/2026
During 2025, we repurchased 7.0 million shares of the Company’s common stock for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $2.0 billion.
Liquidity and capital resources — actual 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.
Liquidity and capital resources — 2025 and 2024 operating cash flow · Filed 12/02/2026
During the year ended December 31, 2025, a goodwill impairment loss of $150.0 million was recognized in the Digital Markets reporting unit.
Risk factors — realized Digital Markets goodwill impairment · Filed 12/02/2026
On February 5, 2026, the Company completed the sale of Digital Markets for approximately $110.0 million, prior to customary purchase price adjustments.
Subsequent events — completed February 2026 Digital Markets sale · Filed 12/02/2026
Cash provided by operating activities was $789.3 million and $697.1 million during the six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025, respectively.
Executive summary — first-half operating cash flow · Filed 04/08/2026
AND SUBSIDIARIES Condensed Consolidated Statements of Changes in Stockholders’ (Deficit) Equity (Unaudited; in thousands) Three and Six Months Ended June 30, 2026 Common Stock Additional Paid-In Capital Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss, Net Accumulated Earnings Treasury Stock Total Balance at December 31, 2025 $ 82 $ 2,679,101 $ (41,015) $ 6,722,238 $ (9,040,498) $ 319,908 Net income — — — 222,344 — 222,344 Other comprehensive loss — — (4,040) — — (4,040) Issuances under stock plans — 4,415 — — 4,274 8,689 Common share repurchases (including excise tax) — — — — (529,387) (529,387) Stock-based compensation expense — 45,870 — — — 45,870 Balance at March 31, 2026 $ 82 $ 2,729,386 $ (45,055) $ 6,944,582 $ (9,565,611) $ 63,384 Net income — — — 275,498 — 275,498 Other comprehensive loss — — (7,364) — — (7,364) Issuances under stock plans — 4,179 — — 1,994 6,173 Common share repurchases (including excise tax) — — — — (546,026) (546,026) Stock-based compensation expense — 40,990 — — — 40,990 Balance at June 30, 2026 $ 82 $ 2,774,555 $ (52,419) $ 7,220,080 $ (10,109,643) $ (167,345) Three and Six Months Ended June 30, 2025 Common Stock Additional Paid-In Capital Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss, Net Accumulated Earnings Treasury Stock Total Balance at December 31, 2024 $ 82 $ 2,497,130 $ (88,333) $ 5,993,007 $ (7,042,717) $ 1,359,169 Net income — — — 210,939 — 210,939 Other comprehensive income — — 20,484 — — 20,484 Issuances under stock plans — 5,872 — — 3,894 9,766 Common share repurchases (including excise tax) — — — — (152,672) (152,672) Stock-based compensation expense — 50,168 — — — 50,168 Balance at March 31, 2025 $ 82 $ 2,553,170 $ (67,849) $ 6,203,946 $ (7,191,495) $ 1,497,854 Net income — — — 240,783 — 240,783 Other comprehensive income — — 21,234 — — 21,234 Issuances under stock plans — 6,779 — — 981 7,760 Common share repurchases (including excise tax) — — — — (278,032) (278,032) Stock-based compensation expense — 43,027 — — — 43,027 Balance at June 30, 2025 $ 82 $ 2,602,976 $ (46,615) $ 6,444,729 $ (7,468,546) $ 1,532,626 See the accompanying notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.
Statements of changes in equity — actual repurchases and stock compensation · Filed 04/08/2026
AND SUBSIDIARIES Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (Unaudited; in thousands, except share data) June 30, December 31, 2026 2025 Assets Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 1,488,706 $ 1,722,521 Fees receivable, net of allowances of $4,500 and $5,000, respectively 1,202,212 1,684,522 Deferred commissions 352,184 400,728 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 181,226 152,205 Assets held-for-sale — 106,361 Total current assets 3,224,328 4,066,337 Property, equipment and leasehold improvements, net 199,250 214,183 Operating lease right-of-use assets 208,375 213,997 Goodwill 2,738,631 2,740,802 Intangible assets, net 294,434 336,303 Other assets 528,656 513,778 Total Assets $ 7,193,674 $ 8,085,400 Liabilities and Stockholders’ (Deficit) Equity Current liabilities: Accounts payable and accrued liabilities $ 907,102 $ 1,236,533 Deferred revenues 2,756,202 2,810,056 Current portion of long-term debt — 5,000 Liabilities held-for-sale — 20,503 Total current liabilities 3,663,304 4,072,092 Long-term debt, net of deferred financing fees 2,979,281 2,976,674 Operating lease liabilities 253,426 270,200 Other liabilities 465,008 446,526 Total Liabilities 7,361,019 7,765,492 Stockholders’ (Deficit) Equity Preferred stock, $0.01 par value, 5,000,000 shares authorized; none issued or outstanding — — Common stock, $0.0005 par value, 250,000,000 shares authorized; 163,602,067 shares issued for both periods 82 82 Additional paid-in capital 2,774,555 2,679,101 Accumulated other comprehensive loss, net (52,419) (41,015) Accumulated earnings 7,220,080 6,722,238 Treasury stock, at cost, 99,197,399 and 92,752,769 common shares, respectively (10,109,643) (9,040,498) Total Stockholders’ (Deficit) Equity (167,345) 319,908 Total Liabilities and Stockholders’ (Deficit) Equity $ 7,193,674 $ 8,085,400 See the accompanying notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.
Balance sheets — cash, debt and treasury stock · 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.
Compensation discussion — equity weighting of executive target compensation · Filed 15/04/2026
Equity awards vest at 25% per year over four years to encourage retention.
Compensation practices — four-year equity vesting schedule · Filed 15/04/2026
No Hedging or Pledging. We prohibit our executives from hedging or pledging with respect to company securities.
Compensation practices — prohibition on executive hedging and pledging · Filed 15/04/2026
In February 2026, the Compensation Committee certified the results as displayed in the table (with each metric weighted at 50%): 2025 Performance Objective/ Weight < Minimum (0%) Target (100%) =/> Maximum (200%) Actual Results 2025 EBITDA* $951 million $1,463 million $1,613 million $1,537 million 2025 Revenue* $5,332 million $6,315 million $6,515 million $6,274 million *Excluding our U.S.
Compensation discussion — certified 2025 bonus metrics and results · Filed 15/04/2026
federal public sector Insights business and measured on an FX neutral basis.
Compensation discussion — federal Insights exclusion and currency-neutral measurement · Filed 15/04/2026
Each metric is equally weighted, resulting in an overall result of 119.6%.
Compensation discussion — actual combined bonus achievement · Filed 15/04/2026
These payments were made in February 2026.
Compensation discussion — bonuses paid in February 2026 · Filed 15/04/2026
Dykstra serves as our Lead Independent Director, in accordance with our Board Principles and Practices.
Board of directors — serving Lead Independent Director · Filed 15/04/2026
During 2025, no member of the Compensation Committee served as an officer or employee of the Company, was formerly an officer of the Company or had any relationship with the Company required to be disclosed under Transactions with Related Persons below.
Governance — actual 2025 Compensation Committee independence disclosures · 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.
Related-party transactions — adopted review and approval policy · 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.
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%.
Executive summary — second-quarter revenue performance by segment · 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.
Segment results — June 2026 Consulting backlog growth · Filed 04/08/2026
Our Insights subscription contracts are typically for twelve months or longer.
Risk factors — typical Insights subscription contract duration · Filed 12/02/2026
Certain of these contracts may be terminated at any time by the government entity without cause or penalty (“termination for convenience”).
Risk factors — government termination-for-convenience rights · Filed 12/02/2026
