Gartner Q1 Profit Meets Views

Gartner Inc IT reported in-line earnings for the first quarter on Thursday. The Stamford, Connecticut-based company posted quarterly net income of $28.4 million, or $0.32 per share, compared to $37.7 million, or $0.40 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding items, the company earned $0.37 per share. Its revenue climbed 5 percent year-over-year to $471.2 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.37 per share on revenue of $470.83 million. Research revenue for the quarter rose 9 percent to $381.1 million, while consulting revenue dropped 9 percent to $76.8 million. Events revenue for the first quarter fell 7 percent year-over-year to $13.3 million. Normalized EBITDA slipped 5 percent to $80.7 million for the first quarter. During the quarter, Gartner used $324.0 million in cash to repurchase its common shares. Gartner's board also authorized $1.2 billion for share repurchases. Gene Hall, Gartner's chief executive officer, commented, "The momentum we saw in 2014 continued into the first quarter of 2015. Our underlying metrics remained strong with total revenues up 12% on an FX neutral basis. Additionally, contract value growth accelerated to 15% and retention rates remained at all-time highs. We accelerated our pace of share buybacks during the quarter, and our Board has approved an additional $1.2 billion authorization for share buybacks. Overall we remain confident in our tremendous market opportunity and growth potential over the long term." For the full year, Gartner projects earnings of $2.27 to $2.46 per share, on revenue of $2.15 billion to $2.21 billion. Gartner shares rose 0.56 percent to close at $84.10 yesterday.