Gartner Reports First Quarter 2021 Financial Results

Total Contract Value $3.7 billion, +5.8% YoY FX Neutral

FIRST QUARTER 2021 HIGHLIGHTS

• Revenues: $1.1 billion, +8.4% as reported; +5.7% FX neutral.
• Net income: $164 million; adjusted EBITDA: $320 million, +50.0% as reported, +44.2% FX neutral.
• Diluted EPS: $1.84, +121.7%; adjusted EPS: $2.00, +66.7%.
• Operating cash flow: $157 million; free cash flow: $145 million, +363.8%.
• Repurchased 2.3 million common shares for $398 million.
• Board of Directors increased the share repurchase authorization by $500 million in April 2021.

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT), the world’s leading research and advisory company, today reported results for the first quarter of 2021 and updated its financial outlook for the full year 2021. Additional information regarding the Company’s results is provided in an earnings supplement available on the Company’s Investor Relations website at https://investor.gartner.com.

Gene Hall, Gartner’s Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We had an outstanding start to the year with strong growth in contract value, revenue, EBITDA and free cash flow. Given robust demand and effective cost management, we have meaningfully updated our 2021 guidance. We repurchased more than $600 million of stock through the end of April reflecting our commitment to return significant amounts of free cash flow to shareholders.”

CONFERENCE CALL INFORMATION

The Company will host a webcast call at 8:00 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, May 4, 2021 to discuss the Company’s financial results. The call will be available via the Company’s website at https://investor.gartner.com or by dialing 844-413-7151 (conference ID 2486544). A replay of the webcast will be available on the Company’s website for approximately 30 days following the call.

CONSOLIDATED RESULTS HIGHLIGHTS

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SEGMENT RESULTS HIGHLIGHTS

• Global Technology Sales Contract Value (GTS CV): $3.0 billion, +4.5% YOY FX Neutral
• Global Business Sales Contract Value (GBS CV): $0.7 billion, +11.6% YOY FX Neutral

Our segment results for the three months ended March 31, 2021 were as follows:

(Unaudited; $ in millions)

nm = not meaningful.

Additional details regarding our segment results can be obtained from the earnings supplement, our quarterly report on Form 10–Q filed with the SEC on May 4, 2021 and our webcast.

Certain financial metrics contained in this Press Release are considered non-GAAP financial measures. Definitions of these non-GAAP financial measures are included in this Press Release under “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and the related reconciliations are under “Supplemental Information — Non-GAAP Reconciliations.” In this Press Release, some totals may not add due to rounding. The percentage changes are based on the unrounded whole number and recalculation based on millions may yield a different result.

ABOUT GARTNER

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world’s leading research and advisory company and a member of the S&P 500. We equip business leaders with indispensable insights, advice and tools to achieve their mission–critical priorities today and build the successful organizations of tomorrow. Our unmatched combination of expert-led, practitioner-sourced and data-driven research steers clients toward the right decisions on the issues that matter most. We are a trusted advisor and an objective resource for more than 14,000 enterprises in more than 100 countries — across all major functions, in every industry and enterprise size. To learn more about how we help decision makers fuel the future of business, visit gartner.com.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

Statements contained in this press release regarding the Company’s growth and prospects, projected financial results, long-term objectives, and all other statements in this release other than recitation of historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, estimates, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different, and are currently, or in the future could be, amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. Such factors include, but are not limited to, the following: uncertainty of the magnitude, duration, geographic reach and impact on the global economy of the COVID-19 pandemic; the current, and uncertain future, impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and governments’ responses to it on our business, growth, reputation, projections, prospects, financial condition, operations, cash flows, and liquidity; the adequacy or effectiveness of steps we take to respond to the crisis, including cost reduction or other mitigation programs; our ability to recover potential claims under our event cancellation insurance; the timing of conferences and meetings, in particular our Gartner Symposium/Xpo series that normally occurs during the fourth quarter, as well as the timing of our return to in-person conferences and meetings and willingness of participants to attend; our ability to achieve and effectively manage growth, including our ability to integrate our acquisitions and consummate and integrate future acquisitions; our ability to pay our debt obligations; our ability to maintain and expand our products and services; our ability to expand or retain our customer base; our ability to grow or sustain revenue from individual customers; our ability to attract and retain a professional staff of research analysts and consultants as well as experienced sales personnel upon whom we are dependent; our ability to achieve continued customer renewals and achieve new contract value, backlog and deferred revenue growth in light of competitive pressures; our ability to carry out our strategic initiatives and manage associated costs; our ability to successfully compete with existing competitors and potential new competitors; our ability to enforce and protect our intellectual property rights; additional risks associated with international operations, including foreign currency fluctuations; the U.K.’s exit from the European Union and its impact on our results; the impact of restructuring and other charges on our businesses and operations; cybersecurity incidents; general economic conditions; changes in macroeconomic and market conditions and market volatility (including developments and volatility arising from the COVID-19 pandemic), including interest rates and the effect on the credit markets and access to capital; risks associated with the creditworthiness, budget cuts, and shutdown of governments and agencies; the impact of changes in tax policy and heightened scrutiny from various taxing authorities globally; uncertainty from the expected discontinuance of LIBOR and transition to any other interest rate benchmark; changes to laws and regulations; and other factors described under “Risk Factors” in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K, which can be found on Gartner’s website at https://investor.gartner.com and the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Forward-looking statements included herein speak only as of the date hereof and Gartner disclaims any obligation to revise or update such statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events or circumstances, except as required by applicable law.

NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

Certain financial measures used in this Press Release are not defined by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) and as such are considered non-GAAP financial measures. We provide these measures to enhance the user’s overall understanding of the Company’s current financial performance and the Company’s prospects for the future. Investors are cautioned that these non-GAAP financial measures may not be defined in the same manner by other companies and, as a result, may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures used by other companies. Also, these non-GAAP financial measures should not be construed as alternatives, or superior, to other measures determined in accordance with GAAP. The non-GAAP financial measures used in this Press Release are defined below.

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin: Represents GAAP net income (loss) adjusted for: (i) interest expense, net; (ii) tax provision (benefit); (iii) loss on extinguishment of debt, as applicable; (iv) other expense/income, net; (v) stock-based compensation expense; (vi) depreciation, amortization, and accretion; (vii) the amortization of non-cash fair value adjustments on pre-acquisition deferred revenues, as applicable; (viii) acquisition and integration charges and certain other non-recurring items; and (ix) gain/loss on divestitures and other similar items, as applicable. Adjusted EBITDA Margin represents Adjusted EBITDA divided by GAAP Revenue. We believe Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin are important measures of our recurring operations as they exclude items not representative of our core operating results.

Adjusted Net Income: Represents GAAP net income (loss) adjusted for the impact of certain items directly related to acquisitions and other non-recurring items. These adjustments include: (i) the amortization of acquired intangibles; (ii) acquisition and integration charges and other non-recurring items; (iii) loss on extinguishment of debt, as applicable; (iv) the amortization of non-cash fair value adjustments on pre-acquisition deferred revenues, as applicable; (v) gain/loss on divestitures and other similar items, as applicable; (vi) the non-cash gain/loss on de-designated interest rate swaps, as applicable; and (vii) the related tax effect. We believe Adjusted Net Income is an important measure of our recurring operations as it excludes items that may not be indicative of our core operating results.

Adjusted EPS: Represents GAAP diluted EPS adjusted for the impact of certain items directly related to acquisitions and other non-recurring items. These adjustments include on a per share basis: (i) the amortization of acquired intangibles; (ii) acquisition and integration charges and other non-recurring items; (iii) loss on extinguishment of debt, as applicable; (iv) the amortization of non-cash fair value adjustments on pre-acquisition deferred revenues, as applicable; (v) the gain/loss on divestitures and other similar items, as applicable; (vi) the non-cash gain/loss on de-designated interest rate swaps, as applicable; and (vii) the related tax effect, as applicable. We believe Adjusted EPS is an important measure of our recurring operations as it excludes items that may not be indicative of our core operating results.

Free Cash Flow: Represents cash provided by operating activities determined in accordance with GAAP less payments for capital expenditures. We believe Free Cash Flow is an important measure of the recurring cash generated by the Company’s core operations that may be available to be used to repay debt obligations, repurchase our stock, invest in future growth through new business development activities, or make acquisitions.

Foreign Currency Neutral (FX Neutral): We provide foreign currency neutral dollar amounts and percentages for our contract values, revenues, certain expenses, and other metrics. These foreign currency neutral dollar amounts and percentages eliminate the effects of exchange rate fluctuations and thus provide a more accurate and meaningful trend in the underlying data being measured. We calculate foreign currency neutral dollar amounts by converting the underlying amounts in local currency for different periods into U.S. dollars by applying the same foreign exchange rates to all periods presented.

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION - NON-GAAP RECONCILIATIONS

The tables below provide reconciliations of certain Non-GAAP financial measures used in this Press Release with the most directly comparable GAAP measure. See “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” above for definitions of these measures.

Source: Gartner, Inc.

Gartner-IR

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