Gartner, Inc.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Gartner's first quarter 2022 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listening mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. If you require any further assistance, please press star zero. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, David Cohen, Gartner's SVP of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone. We appreciate your joining us today for Gartner's first quarter 2022 earnings call and hope you are well. With me on the call today are Gene Hall, Chief Executive Officer, and Craig Safian, Chief Financial Officer. This call will include a discussion of first quarter 2022 financial results and Gartner's updated outlook for 2022 as disclosed in today's earnings release and earnings supplement, both posted to our website, investor.gartner.com, following comments by Gene and Craig, we will open up the call for your questions. We ask that you limit your questions to one and a follow-up. On the call, unless stated otherwise, all references to EBITDA are for adjusted EBITDA, but the adjustments as described in our earnings release and supplement. All growth rates and jeans comments are FX neutral, unless stated otherwise. Reconciliations for all non-GAAP numbers we use are available in the Investor Relations section of the Gartner.com website. Finally, all contract values and associated growth rates we discuss are are based on 2022 foreign exchange rates and less stated otherwise. As set forth in more detail in today's earnings release, certain statements made on this column may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can vary materially from actual results and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including those contained in the company's 2021 annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, as well as in other filings with the SEC. I encourage all of you to review the risk factors listed in these documents. Now I will turn the call over to Gartner's Chief Executive Officer, Gene Hall.

Good morning, and thanks for joining us. Gartner had a great start to 2022. In the first quarter, performance was strong across the business. We delivered growth in revenue, EBITDA, EPS, and free cash flow. We drove acceleration in contract value, and our significant share repurchase program has lowered our share count. With our strong Q1 results, we're increasing our 2022 guidance. Research continues to be our largest and most profitable segment. Gartner Research provides actionable, objective insight to executives and their teams across all major enterprise functions in every industry around the world. We continue to have a vast market opportunity across all sectors, sizes, and geographies, and we're delivering more value to our clients than ever before. There's a high degree of volatility and uncertainty in the world. Our clients are facing more challenging decisions than ever before. We've been incredibly agile in supporting them through these trying times. We're delivering more relevant and timely content on current pressing issues, such as successfully operating in a hybrid work environment, developing strategies to attract and retain talent, and managing supply chain disruptions. Beyond these issues, we continue to provide unparalleled insight and advice on top priorities, including transitioning to digital business, building diverse, equitable, and inclusive organizations, managing cybersecurity threats, and much more. Whether our clients are experiencing good times or bad, and regardless of role, we deliver incredible value to enterprise leaders and their teams. And we have strong demand for our services. Research revenue grew 18% in Q1. Total contract value growth was 16%, at the top end of our medium-term outlook. Within our research segment, we serve executives and their teams through distinct sales channels, Global Technology Sales, or GTS, serves leaders and their teams within IT. GTS contract value grew 14%. Global Business Sales, or GBS, serves leaders and their teams beyond IT. This includes HR, supply chain, finance, marketing, sales, legal, and more. GBS contract value grew 24%. Turning now to our conference's business, Gartner conferences deliver extraordinary value to an engaged and highly qualified audience. Q1 is a seasonally small quarter for our conferences business, which performed as expected in the first quarter. We ran five virtual conferences in Q1. We pushed several conferences that traditionally occurred in Q1 to later in the year to facilitate running them in person. We continue to see strong demand for in-person conferences from our clients and prospects. We're taking a deliberate-based approach as we return to in-person experiences. Next week, we will be hosting our first in-person conference since our pivot to virtual in 2020. The Gartner Data and Analytics Summit will run next week in London. Attendee tickets and exhibitor space has sold out for this summit. Our clients, prospects, analysts, and sales teams are eager to come together. As we return to in-person conferences, we'll continue to leverage our profitable virtual conferences as a complement to our in-person conferences. Gartner Consulting is an extension of Gartner Research. Consulting helps clients execute their most strategic initiatives through deeper, extended, project-based work. Consulting is an important complement to our IC research business. Consulting revenue grew a very strong 20% in the first quarter. So we had a great start to the year. To sustain our success over the long term, we've made targeted investments in hiring and retaining top talent that are paying off. Across the company, turnover has stabilized. We expanded our recruiting capacity last year and are adding new associates at a strong pace. In Q1, we had our highest number of new hires ever. We grew headcount 4% sequentially, achieving our quarterly hiring target. We're on pace to achieve our hiring goals for 2022. The world continues to face significant challenges. Beyond the unrelenting COVID-19 pandemic, Russia's invasion of the Ukraine is a terrible humanitarian crisis. Our thoughts are with all those who continue to be impacted. Gartner is exiting the Russian market. In addition, we have established a free resource center to help leaders address a range of business issues that have emerged as a result of this crisis. In closing, we started 2022 with strong performances. We have great momentum across the business. Whether our clients are experiencing good times or bad, and regardless of role, we deliver incredible value to enterprise leaders and their teams. And we have strong demand for our services. We have a vast, untapped market opportunity. We generate significant free cash flow in excess of net income. Looking ahead, we're well positioned to drive strong top-line growth with modest margin expansion. As we invest for future growth, we'll continue to return significant levels of excess capital to our shareholders. This reduces our shares outstanding and increases returns on capital over time. With our strong Q1 results, we're increasing our 2022 guidance. With that, I'll hand the call over to our Chief Financial Officer, Craig Sapien, who will give you more detail.