Gartner, Inc. is the subject of a securities fraud class action lawsuit filed in March 2026 on behalf of investors who bought the company’s stock between February 4, 2025, and February 2, 2026. The complaint, Schmidt v. Gartner, Inc., alleges that CEO and Chairman Eugene A. Hall and CFO Craig W. Safian repeatedly overstated Gartner’s growth prospects, particularly around a proprietary metric called contract value and the performance of the consulting segment, while playing down macroeconomic and tariff-related headwinds. Two corrective disclosures during the class period drove the stock down by more than $176 per share combined.1Levi & Korsinsky, LLP. Gartner, Inc. Class Action Lawsuit
What the Complaint Alleges
Gartner sells research subscriptions and consulting services to corporate technology buyers. Wall Street watches a metric the company calls “contract value,” or CV, which represents the annualized value of its subscription-like research agreements. Executives had set a medium-term target of 12% to 16% CV growth as the benchmark for what the business could deliver once conditions normalized.1Levi & Korsinsky, LLP. Gartner, Inc. Class Action Lawsuit
The complaint groups the alleged misstatements into two categories.
On contract value, defendants repeatedly told investors CV growth would accelerate through 2025 toward the 12% to 16% range. On February 4, 2025, Safian said guidance reflected CV “continuing to accelerate during 2025.” On May 6, 2025, Hall announced first-quarter results were “ahead of expectations” and reiterated the growth target. On November 4, 2025, Hall said the selling environment for clients affected by tariff uncertainty was improving. Plaintiffs say none of those statements had a reasonable basis.1Levi & Korsinsky, LLP. Gartner, Inc. Class Action Lawsuit
On consulting, Gartner guided in early 2025 to at least $565 million in full-year consulting revenue and later raised the figure to $575 million. The complaint alleges executives held to those targets even as the segment was falling behind internal projections. Actual full-year consulting revenue came in at $552 million, below both the guidance and the prior year’s $559 million.2TipRanks. Gartner Faces Investor Lawsuit Over Alleged Misstatements on Contract Value Growth and Consulting Revenue3Levi & Korsinsky, LLP. Schmidt v. Gartner, Inc. Complaint
Throughout, the complaint says, management claimed “very good visibility” into revenue while minimizing the impact of tariff-driven client cost-cutting that executives knew or should have known would keep the company from hitting its stated targets.2TipRanks. Gartner Faces Investor Lawsuit Over Alleged Misstatements on Contract Value Growth and Consulting Revenue
The Two Stock Drops That Anchor the Case
The complaint identifies two corrective disclosures.
August 5, 2025
Gartner reported second-quarter earnings and disclosed that overall CV growth had slowed from 7% the prior quarter to 5%. The company also cut its full-year guidance. Shares fell roughly 28% in a single session, from $336.71 to $243.93. Hall attributed the slowdown on the earnings call to tariff-driven cost-cutting by clients and a shift in purchase decisions toward CFOs and CEOs “at a record pace.”1Levi & Korsinsky, LLP. Gartner, Inc. Class Action Lawsuit4Forbes. Gartner Stock Down 49%
February 3, 2026
Gartner reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results. CV growth had decelerated to just 1% year over year, far below the 12% to 16% aspirational range. The consulting shortfall surfaced for the first time, with $134 million reported for the quarter against $153 million a year earlier.5Yahoo Finance. Gartner, Inc. Q4 2025 Earnings Management guided 2026 revenue to roughly $6.455 billion, only about 2% growth on a currency-neutral basis and well below Wall Street expectations.6TIKR. Gartner Stock Plunge to 52-Week Low After 2026 Revenue Guidance Misses The stock fell more than 20%, dropping from $202.40 to $160.16 and setting a new 52-week low.7PR Newswire. Gartner Shares Sink to 52-Week Low After Q4 Revenue and 2026 Outlook Misses
Investors who bought at the class-period high of about $336.71 and held through the final disclosure lost roughly half their investment.8Morningstar. IT Investor Alert: Gartner, Inc. Securities Fraud Lawsuit
Where the Case Stands
The suit was filed on March 17, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut and assigned to Judge Omar A. Williams.9PACER Monitor. Schmidt v. Gartner, Inc. et al10Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP. Gartner, Inc. Class Action Lawsuit The court set May 18, 2026, as the deadline for investors to seek appointment as lead plaintiff.11Rosen Legal. Gartner, Inc.
Three applicants filed by that deadline: named plaintiff Kevin Schmidt, the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System, and the Public Service Pensions Board. Schmidt withdrew his motion on May 20, 2026. The Arkansas Teacher Retirement System has claimed approximately $8 million in losses on its Gartner holdings.12Arkansas Online. Arkansas’ Largest Retirement System Claims $8 Million in Losses Judge Williams entered orders on the competing motions on June 11, 2026, though the specific ruling is not available in summary form on the public docket as of mid-June 2026.13CourtListener. Schmidt v. Gartner, Inc.
The defendants have not yet answered the complaint. A joint motion to extend the response deadline was filed on May 18, 2026, and granted on June 11.13CourtListener. Schmidt v. Gartner, Inc. Gartner shares were trading around $131.61 in mid-June 2026, near the bottom of a 52-week range of $127.24 to $409.76.14CNN. Gartner, Inc. (IT) Stock
What This Means for Affected Investors
If you bought Gartner common stock (NYSE: IT) between February 4, 2025, and February 2, 2026, and held through either the August 5, 2025 drop or the February 3, 2026 drop, you may be a member of the proposed class. The lead-plaintiff deadline of May 18, 2026, has passed, and the court is working through the competing motions. Class members do not need to serve as lead plaintiff to eventually share in any recovery; that decision only affects who directs the litigation. No class has been certified, no liability has been established, and defendants have not yet responded to the allegations.