Shares of
Gartner Inc.
IT
have gained 53.5% over the past year, ahead of 17.3% growth of the
industry
it belongs to and 6.9% rise of the Zacks S&P 500 composite.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Let’s delve into the factors that have contributed to the company’s price performance:
Consecutive Earnings Beat
Gartner came up with better-than-expected earnings and revenue performance in the past four quarters. The company’s bottom line continued to benefit from improvement in operational efficiency. Strength across all the segments — Research, Conferences and Consulting — boosted the top line.
Diverse Addressable Market
Gartner has a large and diverse addressable market with low customer concentration, which helps in mitigating operating risks. Operating in an industry with low barriers to entry, Gartner has an integrated research and consulting team designed to best serve clients’ needs. This enables it to have a competitive advantage over its rivals. Leveraging the breadth and depth of its intellectual capital, Gartner creates and distributes proprietary research content as broadly as possible via published reports, interactive tools, facilitated peer networking, briefings, consulting and advisory services, and events. These facilitate a steadily improving revenue stream for the company.
Shareholder-Friendly Moves
Gartner’s endeavor to reward its shareholders in the form of share repurchases is appreciable. In 2021, 2020 and 2019, Gartner repurchased 7.3 million, 1.2 million and 1.4 million shares for $1.7 billion, $176.3 million and $199 million, respectively. Such moves indicate the company’s commitment to create value for shareholders and underline its confidence in its business. These initiatives not only instill investors’ confidence but also positively impact the company’s earnings per share.
Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider
Gartner currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here
.
Some other better-ranked stocks in the broader
Business Services
sector that investors may consider are
Cross Country Healthcare
CCRN
,
NV5 Global
NVEE
and
Clean Harbors
CLH
, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1.
Cross Country Healthcare has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 41.5%, on average.
Cross Country Healthcare’s shares have surged 59.3% in the past year. The company has a long-term earnings growth of 6.5%.
NV5 Global has an expected earnings growth rate of 6.1% for the current year. It delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 22.2%, on average.
NV5 Global’s shares have surged 42% in the past year. The company has a long-term earnings growth of 14.2%.
Clean Harbors has an expected earnings growth rate of 17% for the current year. The company has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 43.2%, on average.
Clean Harbors’ shares have surged 23.5% in the past year.
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