Gartner, Inc. (IT) earnings on August 4, 2026
Prior outlook: Pessimistic Outcome: Missed
Gartner stock jumped dramatically after earnings, climbing as much as 26% and ending up 23%. The results easily beat what analysts were expecting, overcoming earlier concerns that the stock might drop after the news.
IT price around the earnings
185.79
Change: +22.6%
2026-08-04, 20:00 UTC
- Price: green if it ends above the starting price; red if it ends below
- Start of the measured window
- End of the measured window
- Market open
- Starting price
Prior thesis
Prior outlook: Pessimistic Outcome: Missed
- Thesis published
- Results released
Analysts cautious — risk outweighs reward
Analysts are pessimistic because, despite strong recent performance and a strong recent earnings record, the stock has already rallied significantly and some analysts have downgraded it. This creates a higher risk that the good news is already priced in, and the scenario is pessimistic ahead of the earnings announcement.
Context analyzed before publication
- Summary
- Analysts cautious — risk outweighs reward
- Playbook
- The stock has risen sharply recently and is near a resistance level, with high expected price volatility. The recent rally and analyst downgrades suggest that the market may have already priced in the positive news.
- Trend
- Analyst confidence has dropped sharply
Analysts
Drivers
-
Analysts
Negative
Analysts have downgraded the stock, with some firms rating it underweight or equal-weight, and the target upside is only +5.8%, indicating weak institutional conviction.
Evidence
- Analyst consensus
- Hold
- Consensus average (1-5)
- 2.8
- Analysts covering the stock
- 13
- Average price target
- 160.38
- Lowest price target
- 120
- Highest price target
- 203
- Upside to price target
- 5.8%
- Quarterly earnings growth
- 5.4%
- Revenue growth
- -1.5%
- Forward EPS
- 15.31
- Trailing EPS
- 10.12
- Analyst moves in the last 60 days
- 3
- Strong buy: 0
- Buy: 3
- Hold: 10
- Sell: 1
- Strong sell: 1
- Strong buy
- 0
- Buy
- 3
- Hold
- 10
- Sell
- 1
- Strong sell
- 1
- July 10, 2026 · Morgan Stanley: Maintains rating (Equal-Weight → Equal-Weight)
- June 24, 2026 · Wells Fargo: Maintains rating (Underweight → Underweight)
- June 12, 2026 · UBS: Maintains rating (Neutral → Neutral)
News and sentiment
Evidence
Sentiment
- Sentiment
- Constructive
- Mention volume
- High
- Normalized volume
- 99%
News
Sources (1)
- Morgan Stanley Maintains Equal-Weight on Gartner, Lowers Price Target to $173 (opens in a new tab) — Benzinga
Technicals
Drivers
-
Technical
Negative
The stock is near resistance at $152.29 with high expected price volatility, and has risen 7.36% in the past two weeks, leaving limited room before resistance.
Evidence
- Price when the context was analyzed
- 151.39
- Average true range (ATR)
- 5.4%
- Distance to 52-week high
- -55.1%
- 14-day change (14d)
- +7.4%
- 30-day change (32d)
- +11.2%
- 30-day relative strength
- +9.5%
- SPY change (32d)
- +1.7%
- Nearest support
- 150.38
- Distance to nearest support
- 0.7%
- Nearest resistance
- 152.29
- Distance to nearest resistance
- 0.6%
- Volume accumulation ratio (14d / 46d)
- 1.02
- Mid: 150.38 (0.7% away, 0.12 ATR, 18 touches)
- Mid: 148.32 (2% away, 0.37 ATR, 13 touches)
- Mid: 146.26 (3.4% away, 0.63 ATR, 8 touches)
- Mid: 152.29 (0.6% away, 0.11 ATR, 19 touches)
- Major: 155.04 (2.4% away, 0.44 ATR, 22 touches)
- Minor: 156.28 (3.2% away, 0.6 ATR, 3 touches)
Trends
Evidence
- Average earnings surprise
- +11.6%
- May 5, 2026: actual EPS 3.32 vs estimate 2.92 (surprise +13.6%)
- February 3, 2026: actual EPS 3.94 vs estimate 3.51 (surprise +12.2%)
- November 4, 2025: actual EPS 2.76 vs estimate 2.43 (surprise +13.7%)
- August 5, 2025: actual EPS 3.53 vs estimate 3.31 (surprise +6.8%)
Expected move
Drivers
-
Past earnings
Positive
The company has beaten earnings expectations in every quarter, with an average surprise of +11.6%, showing a strong track record.
- Implied move
- +4.0%
- Source
- Options chain
Reactions over its last 20 earnings
- Median move
- 3.6%
- 75th percentile move
- 7.8%
- 90th percentile move
- 15.2%
- Up / down moves
- 11 / 9
- Average up move
- +5.5%
- Average down move
- -8.2%
Monitoring and close
What Gartner, Inc. reported
- Status
- Finished
| Actual EPS | 4.37 |
|---|---|
| EPS estimate | 3.75 |
| EPS surprise | +16.5% |
| Revenue | $1,676 million |
| Revenue estimate | $1,650 million |
| Revenue surprise | +1.6% |
Gartner beat estimates and raised 2026 guidance. Contract value growth accelerates, though sales came in lower. Analysts remain optimistic.
Sources (18)
- Gartner Inc (IT) (Q2 2026) Earnings Call Highlights: CV Growth Accelerates, Adjusted EPS Soars 24% (opens in a new tab) — GuruFocus.com
- Gartner Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates, '26 EPS Outlook Raised (opens in a new tab) — Zacks
- Why Gartner Inc. Stock Is Soaring Today (opens in a new tab) — Motley Fool
- Netskope Named a Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Security Service Edge for 5th Year in a Row (opens in a new tab) — Yahoo
- Zscaler Recognized as a Leader in Both the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for SASE Platforms and 2026 Magic Quadrant™ for Security Service Edge (opens in a new tab) — Yahoo
- Caterpillar, Wayfair, Zebra Technologies, Gartner And Other Big Stocks Moving Higher On Tuesday (opens in a new tab) — Benzinga
- Gartner (IT) Reports Q2 Earnings: What Key Metrics Have to Say (opens in a new tab) — Zacks
- Gartner, Inc. 2026 Q2 - Results - Earnings Call Presentation (opens in a new tab) — SeekingAlpha
- Gartner Shares Jump After Strong Second-Quarter Performance and Higher Guidance (opens in a new tab) — InvestorsHub
- Gartner, Inc. (IT) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript (opens in a new tab) — SeekingAlpha
- Gartner (IT) Q2 Earnings and Revenues Beat Estimates (opens in a new tab) — Zacks
- Gartner FY2026 GAAP EPS expected to be more than $13.14 vs $12.86 Est (opens in a new tab) — Benzinga
- Gartner (NYSE:IT) Posts Better-Than-Expected Sales In Q2 CY2026, Stock Soars (opens in a new tab) — StockStory
- On July 30, Gartner Board Had Authorized Incremental Share Repurchases Up To $500M (opens in a new tab) — Benzinga
- Gartner FY2026 Adj EPS expected to be more than $14.00 vs $13.64 Est; FY2026 Revenue expected to be more than $6.375B vs $6.431B Est (opens in a new tab) — Benzinga
- Gartner beat expectations: adjusted EPS of $4.37 versus $3.75 estimated, and revenue of $1.676B versus $1.650B expected. — Benzinga
- Gartner Q2 Adj. EPS $4.37 Beats $3.75 Estimate, Sales $1.676B Beat $1.650B Estimate (opens in a new tab) — Benzinga
- Gartner Reports Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results (opens in a new tab) — Yahoo
Pre-market second reading after the results
- Verdict
- Beat expectations
Heading into the open, results beat expectations on both earnings and revenue, and the price is indicating +7.1% pre-market, a move above the stock's usual reaction (about 4%). The figures overturn the prior pessimistic scenario. Across our market history, in the 1,059 similar cases the close held that direction 96% of the time.
How the stock reacted
- Outcome
- Missed
- Consolidated
- +22.6%
- Max favorable move (MFE)
- 0.5%
- Max adverse move (MAE)
- 26.5%