Investors hope Gartner (NYSE: IT) will top analyst estimates once again after beating predictions by one cent in the previous quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, August 2. Gartner is an information technology research and advisory company, which offers independent and objective research and analysis on the information technology, computer hardware, software, communications, and related technology industries.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back Gartner, with five of six rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts like Gartner better than competitor Forrester Research overall. While analysts still rate the stock a moderate buy, they are a little more optimistic about it compared to three months ago.
  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $356.2 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 13.4% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.32 per share. Estimates range from $0.29 to $0.34.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly backing the stock, with 92.9% giving it an "outperform" rating. The community at large concurs with the All Stars, with 76.8% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on Gartner, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 35 posts in the past 30 days. Gartner's bearish CAPS rating of one out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
Gartner's profit has risen year over year by an average of 27.6%.

Now let's look at how efficient management is at running the business. Traditionally, margins represent the efficiency with which companies capture portions of sales dollars. The following table shows gross, operating, and net margins over the past four quarters:

Quarter

Q1

Q4

Q3

Q2

Gross Margin

59.5%

56.9%

57.5%

56.0%

Operating Margin

13.9%

13.9%

11.1%

10.9%

Net Margin

8.9%

9.6%

6.8%

6.4%

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