Preliminary brief— based on press release only. Full analysis including management tone and Q&A will be added when the transcript is available.

IT · Q1 2026 Earnings

Gartner

Reported May 5, 2026

30-second summary

Gartner reported Q1 FY2026 revenue of $1.511B (-1.5% YoY) with Insights growing just 3.1%, Consulting down 14.7%, and total CV of $5.3B — and then did something worth pausing on: cut FY2026 revenue guidance by $50M (to ≥$6.405B) while raising EPS to ≥$13.25 (+7.7%), EBITDA to ≥$1.545B (+$30M), EBITDA margin to ≥24.1% (+60bps), and FCF to ≥$1.16B (+$25M). Management's framing is "operationally unchanged"; the math is that the top-line acceleration thesis is being deferred again while margin and buybacks ($535M repurchased in the quarter alone) carry the EPS line. April recovery commentary helps, but every guided revenue dollar is now lower than three months ago.

Headline numbers

EPS

Q1 FY2026

$3.32

Revenue

Q1 FY2026

$1.51B

-1.5% YoY

Free cash flow

Q1 FY2026

$0.37B

Operating margin

Q1 FY2026

20.9%

Key financials

Q1 FY2026

Metric	Q1 FY2026	YoY	Q4 FY2025	QoQ
Revenue	$1.51B	-1.5%	$1.75B	-13.8%
EPS	$3.32	—	$3.94	-15.7%
Operating margin	20.9%	—	19.1%	+180bps
Free cash flow	$0.37B	—	$0.27B	+36.9%

Guidance

FY2026 full-year EPS, EBITDA, and margin guidance raised despite 1.2% revenue guidance reduction; Q1 beat on EBITDA with strong profitability despite -1.5% YoY revenue decline.

Guidance is issued for both next quarter and the full year. Both may appear below.

Actuals vs prior guidance

Metric	Period	Prior guide	Actual	Δ	Result
Adjusted EBITDA	Q1 FY2026	$370 million or more	$395 million	+$25 million above guide	Beat

New guidance

Metric	Period	Guide	YoY
Adjusted EBITDA	Q2 FY2026	$425 million or more	—

Changes to prior guidance

Metric	Period	Prior guide	New guide	Δ	Result
Revenue	FY2026	$6.455 billion or more	$6.405 billion or more	-$50 million	Lowered
Adjusted EPS	FY2026	$12.30 or more	$13.25 or more	+$0.95	Raised
EBITDA	FY2026	$1.515 billion or more	$1.545 billion or more	+$30 million	Raised
EBITDA Margin	FY2026	23.5% or more	at or above 24.1%	+60 bps	Raised
Free Cash Flow	FY2026	$1.135 billion or more	$1.16 billion or more	+$25 million	Raised

Segment performance

Q1 FY2026

Segment	Q1 FY2026	YoY
Insights	$1.294B	+3.1%
Conferences	$0.078B	+7.9%
Consulting	$0.119B	-14.7%

Platform metrics

Q1 FY2026

Segment	Q1 FY2026
Contract Value	$5.3 billion
Global Technology Sales Contract Value	$4.0 billion
Global Business Sales Contract Value	$1.3 billion

Profitability

Q1 FY2026

Segment	Q1 FY2026
Adjusted EBITDA Excluding Divested Operation	$395 million
Adjusted EBITDA Margin Excluding Divested Operation	26.5%
Insights Contribution Margin	78.2%
Operating Cash Flow	$391 million

Other KPIs

Q1 FY2026

Segment	Q1 FY2026
Share Repurchases	$535 million (3.3M shares)

Management tone

Q2 FY2025 anchor: "Five-bucket 2026 recovery math" → Q3 FY2025 anchor: "High-single-digit re-acceleration over 2026" → Q4 FY2025 anchor: "CV will accelerate throughout 2026" → Q1 FY2026 anchor: "Positioned to accelerate CV growth in 2026."

The recovery framing has degraded across four consecutive quarters and the shift this quarter is subtle but real. Q2 FY2025 gave a precise bps stack (200bps DOGE + 100bps tariff + 100bps tech vendor + 100-200bps operations). Q3 FY2025 compressed that to "high single-digit re-acceleration over the course of 2026." Q4 FY2025 became "CV will accelerate throughout 2026 … over the next few years." This quarter the wording is "positioned to accelerate CV growth in 2026" — the verb has moved from "will" to "positioned to." From the extracted commentary: "we expect CV growth to accelerate … we fully expect" — the hedge stack ("expect," "fully expect," "positioned to") is doing more work each quarter than the previous one.

Three quarters ago management characterized the headwinds as a March-quarter anomaly stabilizing into Q2. This quarter the framing shifted to a structural extension of sales cycles with escalation to CFO/CEO approval: "Clients and prospects told us, we still want to buy from you, but we can't make a decision today." The April recovery commentary ("deals actually closed") provides the bull anchor, but Gene Hall's own language — functional leaders now escalating to CFO/CEO — is consistent with the Q2 FY2025 "2009-like recessionary buyer behavior" framing rather than a temporary disruption. Demand destruction is being ruled out; visibility is being explicitly compressed.

The growth-strategy framing pivoted in a way worth flagging. For three quarters management defended the seat-based, account-management model. This quarter Craig Safian disclosed a "bias towards hiring incremental BDs right now as opposed to hiring incremental account managers" and Hall sized the addressable market as 140K enterprises against 14K current customers. The pivot from wallet-deepening to logo-expansion is rational given the existing-customer upsell pressure flagged last quarter — but it also implicitly concedes that the seat-based engine is not the near-term growth lever.

Finally, the three-year EPS commitment is new and load-bearing: "We're committed to delivering compound annual growth at or above 12% to our eps number … over the next three years." This is the floor management is anchoring to in a quarter where the near-term CV trajectory will not be quantified. Combined with $535M of repurchases in Q1 alone (against a ~$1.2B authorization entering the year, plus refresh) and the buyback math doing visible work on the EPS guide, the medium-term commitment is being underwritten by capital return as much as by operational acceleration.

Recurring themes management leaned on this quarter:

Geopolitical-driven March slowdown with April recovery; selling cycles extending but demand intactCV growth expected to reaccelerate through 2026 from depressed 1% Q1 baseline driven by engagement gains and BTI transformationPricing architecture preserved; no discounting despite macro pressure; differentiation via service-tier offeringsU.S. federal government business re-baselined to flat 2026 assumption; 250bps CV headwind beginning to lapAsk Gartner engagement increasing; bi-weekly feature releases; multi-language support and proprietary data expansion12% EPS CAGR target built on CV reacceleration + margin expansion + aggressive share buybacks ($2.4-2.5B LTM)

Risks management surfaced:

Geopolitical environment causing prolonged decision cycles and escalation requirementsU.S. federal government spending uncertainty and DOGE-related headwinds (though expected to stabilize)Macro environment headwinds across tariff-affected and non-tariff-affected industriesTech vendor underperformance in hardware providers and telecom carriersConsulting labor-based and contract optimization volatility tied to client spending deferrals

Answers to last quarter's watch list

CV growth rate trajectory through 2026. Total CV of $5.3B and GTS CV of $4.0B were disclosed, but the company did not publish a Q1 CV YoY growth rate (total or ex-US Fed) in the headline KPI list captured here. Management commentary framed Q1 CV growth at ~1% baseline with "expected to accelerate" through 2026 — no quantified ex-Fed print to validate the +4% Q4 exit rate. The federal headwind was disclosed as a 250bps CV drag now beginning to lap.

Continue monitoring

Insights revenue inflection vs. the +1% FY2026 guide. Insights revenue grew 3.1% YoY in Q1 — comfortably above the +1% FX-neutral FY guide, building cushion. The Insights contribution margin at 78.2% (+120bps QoQ) is the more notable line: the segment is delivering profitability ahead of revenue acceleration.

Resolved positively

Ask Gartner monetization and retention attribution. Management disclosed bi-weekly Ask Gartner feature releases, multi-language support, and proprietary data expansion, plus a stated engagement uplift, but did not provide the quantified attach rate, retention uplift in bps, or revenue attribution that would convert the transformation thesis from qualitative to numerical. Same shape as Q4 disclosure.

Continue monitoring

EBITDA margin path from the 23.5% baseline. FY2026 EBITDA margin guide raised from ≥23.5% to ≥24.1% (+60bps) and Q1 ex-divested EBITDA margin landed at 26.5% — well above the FY floor. The "23.5% new baseline" framing from Q4 has effectively been retired one quarter later; margin is expanding ahead of any visible CV acceleration.

Resolved positively

Buyback pace as the operational-acceleration substitute. $535M repurchased in Q1 alone (3.3M shares) — roughly 45% of the ~$1.2B authorization that existed entering the year deployed in one quarter. This is materially faster than dilution-offset pace. The signal from the prior brief — that an accelerated buyback would indicate lower management confidence in operational acceleration than prepared-remarks framing — reads as confirmed. Status: Resolved negatively (rapid buybacks consistent with deferred operational confidence)

Consulting stabilization at ~$570M for FY2026. Consulting revenue at $119M (-14.7% YoY) extends the Q4 FY2025 -13% reported decline into Q1. To hit the FY2026 ≥$570M / +3% FX-neutral guide off this base would require sharp inflection over Q2-Q4 — nothing in this quarter's data points to a catalyst.

Resolved negatively

What to watch into next quarter

Q2 FY2026 EBITDA delivery vs. the ≥$425M guide and the implied YoY decline. Q2 FY2025 EBITDA was $443M — the new ≥$425M floor sits ~4% below the prior-year actual. Watch whether Q2 prints meaningfully above the floor (consistent with FY raise math) or close to it (validating the deceleration the headline FY revenue cut implies).

Q2 CV growth rate, total and ex-US Fed. Management's "positioned to accelerate" framing has not been quantified for two quarters. Watch whether Q2 CV growth (the cleanest read after the federal cohort largely laps) exceeds the +4% ex-Fed Q4 exit rate. If not, the acceleration thesis is empirically being deferred regardless of the FY guide construct.

Consulting Q2 print — does -14.7% extend or inflect? The FY2026 Consulting guide of ≥$570M (+3% FX-neutral) needs Q2-Q4 to average flat-to-positive growth off the Q1 base. A second consecutive double-digit decline would force a mid-year revenue guide cut or a Consulting guide cut.

Buyback pace continuation. With $535M deployed in Q1 against a refreshed authorization, watch Q2 repurchases. Continued >$400M/quarter pace would confirm capital return is doing the operational-growth work for the EPS line. A slowdown might signal management is preserving optionality on something else (deal, dividend, or rebuild of liquidity).

Ask Gartner — first quantified disclosure. Three quarters in, retention attribution remains qualitative. The transformation narrative needs a number — attach rate, retention bps, or attributable revenue — to graduate from talking point to thesis input.

Revenue guide cushion vs. the ≥$6.405B floor. Q1 revenue of $1.511B annualizes well below the FY floor, requiring meaningful H2 acceleration. Watch H1 FY2026 run-rate against the H2 implied — if the gap widens through Q2, the FY revenue guide is likely cut again.

Sources

Gartner Q1 FY2026 press release (SEC 8-K exhibit 99.1): https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/749251/000074925126000165/it-03312026xex991.htm
Gartner Q1 FY2026 earnings call — prepared remarks commentary (Gene Hall, CEO; Craig Safian, CFO) as captured in extracted inputs.

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