IT US S&P 500Russell 1000 Earnings call · transcribed from the recording
Gartner (IT) · Q3 2026 results and valuation
Share price: $193.00 · 2026-11-11
Results Q3 2026 vs Q2 2026 · previous quarter · published 3 Nov 2026 and 4 Aug 2026
Net income down 22.2% on the previous quarter, guidance raised. Management sounded upbeat, though noticeably less so answering analysts.
Only a basic analysis is available for this company at the moment.
1 · Numbers
−22.2%
Net income vs Q2 2026
Guidance raised
Net income 214.4M vs 275.5M
Revenue −10.2%
Against the same quarter last year (Q3 2025) it is +506.4%; the dip on last quarter is small next to the change on last year.
2 · How management spoke
Upbeat
More upbeat than 82% of company calls
Answers to analysts: typical, but clearly less so than the script.
Last call it was different: script and answers matched.
3 · What stood out
Guidance ↑
Gartner expects 2026 adjusted EPS at or above $14.65, an increase from last quarter that primarily reflects the increase in the EBITDA outlook.
Valuation
Is Gartner undervalued?
Reverse DCF. Free cash flow from the last full fiscal year (2025-12-31), grown for 10 years, discounted back, plus a terminal value. “Implied growth” is the rate the current price assumes.
At 5.9% growth a year (3-year revenue growth), the model's fair value is $298.23 a share — the stock trades 35% below it. Today's price assumes 0.5% growth a year.
Current price
$193.00
close of 2026-11-11
Market implies growth of iThe yearly free-cash-flow growth, for the next 10 years, that today’s share price already assumes. If you believe the company grows faster than this, the stock is cheap under this model; slower, and it is expensive.
+0.5% for 10 yrs
Fair value / share
$298.23
Buy below
$223.67
Price vs fair value
Undervalued 35%
Price vs buy-below price
Undervalued 14%
Read between the lines
-
Figure
Quarter revenue, EBITDA, adjusted EPS, and free cash flow were once again ahead of expectations.
Source quote
“Third quarter revenue, EBITDA, adjusted EPS, and free cash flow were once again ahead of expectations. Contract value growth accelerated for the third quarter in a row.”
-
Guidance ↑
Gartner is increasing the full-year revenue outlook for each of its segments to reflect recent performance and trends.
Tone
How upbeat the language was, compared with other companiesiTone counts positive minus negative finance words, adjusted for length. Executives mostly speak positively, so the labels compare each call with every company's latest call: “typical” is the middle third, “very upbeat” the top tenth, “cautious” the bottom tenth.. Dot: Q3 2026. Ring: Q2 2026.
Management sounded noticeably less positive answering analysts than in its prepared script — a bigger drop than in 83% of calls. Scripts are polished in advance; a drop under questioning often marks the topics analysts pressed on, so the answers deserve a closer read than the script.
Sentences that drove the tone
“For example, core GBS subscription products grew 7% in the quarter, with the sales and finance practices growing high single digits.”
“Of our six major practices, growth was led by sales and finance, which grew high single digits.”
“In the third quarter, contract value growth accelerated, retention improved.”
Full figures
USD · SEC EDGAR XBRL (10-Q, period end 2026-09-30)
| Metric | Q3 2026period end 2026-09-30 | Q2 2026period end 2026-06-30 | Change | Q3 2025 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 1.50B | 1.68B | −10.2% | 1.52B | −1.3% |
| Gross profit | 1.08B | 1.20B | −10.2% | 1.06B | +1.8% |
| Operating income | 281.1M | 378.5M | −25.7% | 86.3M | +225.6% |
| Net income | 214.4M | 275.5M | −22.2% | 35.4M | +506.4% |
| EPS | 3.35 | 4.14 | −19.1% | 0.47 | +612.8% |
| P/E today 13.6 | 13.4 | 11.7 | +1.7 | 23.0 | −9.6 |
Topics
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