高德納諮詢公司 (IT) 2022 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Gartner's Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. I'm David Cohen, SVP of Investor Relations. (Operator Instructions) After comments by Gene Hall, Gartner's Chief Executive Officer; and Craig Safian, Gartner's Chief Financial Officer, there will be a question-and-answer session. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

大家，早安。歡迎參加 Gartner 2022 年第三季度財報電話會議。我是投資者關係高級副總裁 David Cohen。 （操作員說明）根據 Gartner 首席執行官 Gene Hall 的評論； Gartner 首席財務官 Craig Safian 將舉行問答環節。請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

This call will include a discussion of third 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.

本次電話會議將討論 2022 年第三季度財務業績和 Gartner 在今天的收益發布和收益補充中披露的 2022 年更新展望，兩者均發佈在我們的網站investor.gartner.com 上。

On the call, unless stated otherwise, all references to EBITDA are for adjusted EBITDA with the adjustments as described in our earnings release and supplement. All growth rates in Gene's comments are FX-neutral, unless stated otherwise. All references to share counts are for fully diluted weighted average share counts, unless stated otherwise.

在電話會議上，除非另有說明，否則所有對 EBITDA 的引用均指調整後的 EBITDA，其調整如我們的收益發布和補充中所述。除非另有說明，Gene 評論中的所有增長率都是外匯中性的。除非另有說明，否則所有提及的股份數均指完全攤薄的加權平均股份數。

Reconciliations for all non-GAAP numbers we use are available in the Investor Relations section of the gartner.com website.

我們使用的所有非 GAAP 數字的對賬可在 gartner.com 網站的“投資者關係”部分找到。

Finally, all contract values and associated growth rates we discuss are based on 2022 foreign exchange rates unless stated otherwise.

最後，除非另有說明，否則我們討論的所有合同價值和相關增長率均基於 2022 年的匯率。

As set forth in more detail in today's earnings release, certain statements made on this call 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.

正如今天的收益發布中更詳細說明的那樣，本次電話會議上的某些陳述可能構成前瞻性陳述。前瞻性陳述可能與實際結果存在重大差異，並受到許多風險和不確定性的影響，包括公司 2021 年 10-K 表格年度報告和 10-Q 表格季度報告以及其他文件中包含的風險和不確定性。美國證券交易委員會。我鼓勵大家查看這些文件中列出的風險因素。

Now I will turn the call over to Gartner's Chief Executive Officer, Gene Hall.

現在我將把電話轉給 Gartner 的首席執行官 Gene Hall。

Good morning. Thanks for joining us. We continue to deliver incredible value to more than 15,000 enterprises around the world. This led to another strong performance in the third quarter. We achieved double-digit growth in contract value, revenue, EBITDA and EPS. We had strong growth in all practices, all industry sectors, across every size client and in every region. In addition, through Q3, we repurchased over $1 billion of stock.

早上好。感謝您加入我們。我們繼續為全球 15,000 多家企業提供令人難以置信的價值。這導致了第三季度的又一次強勁表現。我們在合同價值、收入、EBITDA 和每股收益方面實現了兩位數的增長。我們在所有業務領域、所有行業領域、每個規模的客戶和每個地區都有強勁的增長。此外，到第三季度，我們回購了超過 10 億美元的股票。

Our clients continue to face a rapidly changing world, things like digital transformation, future of work, high inflation, shifting customer needs, supply chain disruptions and more. Our clients know they need help on these issues, and they know Gartner is the best source of help.

我們的客戶繼續面臨瞬息萬變的世界，例如數字化轉型、工作的未來、高通脹、不斷變化的客戶需求、供應鏈中斷等等。我們的客戶知道他們在這些問題上需要幫助，他們知道 Gartner 是最好的幫助來源。

Through our actionable, objective insights, we help executives and their teams across all major enterprise functions achieve their mission-critical priorities. We know how to help whether our clients are thriving, struggling or somewhere in between. With all of this, demand for our services remain strong.

通過我們可操作的、客觀的見解，我們幫助所有主要企業職能部門的高管及其團隊實現其任務關鍵優先事項。無論我們的客戶是欣欣向榮、苦苦掙扎還是介於兩者之間，我們都知道如何提供幫助。儘管如此，對我們服務的需求依然強勁。

Research continues to be our largest and most profitable segment. Total Research revenue grew 15%. Contract value growth was 14%.

研究仍然是我們最大和最賺錢的部分。研究總收入增長了 15%。合同價值增長 14%。

We serve executives and their teams through distinct sales channels. Global Technology Sales or GTS, serves leaders and their teams within IT. We help chief information officers achieve mission-critical priorities such as leading digital transformations, managing talent in a challenging labor market and fueling innovation. GTS contract value grew 13%.

我們通過不同的銷售渠道為高管及其團隊提供服務。全球技術銷售或 GTS，為 IT 內的領導者及其團隊提供服務。我們幫助首席信息官實現關鍵任務優先事項，例如領導數字化轉型、在充滿挑戰的勞動力市場管理人才和推動創新。 GTS 合同價值增長 13%。

Global Business Sales, or GBS, serves leaders and their teams beyond IT. This includes HR, supply chain, finance, marketing, sales, legal and more. We help leaders across these functions achieve their mission-critical priorities. For example, we help HR leaders engage employees in a hybrid world, evolve organizational design with the transition to digital business, manage compensation in an inflationary environment, manage employee expectations on divisive social issues and reimagine the future of work. GBS contract value grew 21%.

全球業務銷售 (GBS) 為 IT 以外的領導者及其團隊提供服務。這包括人力資源、供應鏈、財務、營銷、銷售、法律等。我們幫助這些職能部門的領導者實現他們的關鍵任務優先事項。例如，我們幫助人力資源主管在混合世界中吸引員工，隨著向數字業務的過渡發展組織設計，在通貨膨脹的環境中管理薪酬，管理員工對分裂性社會問題的期望，並重新構想工作的未來。 GBS 合同價值增長 21%。

Across GTS and GBS, we're driving relentless execution of proven practices, which in turn is driving our sustained results. Gartner Conferences deliver valuable insights to an engaged and qualified audience.

在 GTS 和 GBS 中，我們不斷推動行之有效的實踐，這反過來又推動了我們的持續成果。 Gartner 會議為參與度高的合格觀眾提供有價值的見解。

We continued our return to in-person conferences. In October, we hosted 2 of our flagship conferences, IT Symposium and ReimagineHR, both in Orlando, Florida. Compared to 2019, attendance of IT Symposium was up 12% and ReimagineHR attendance doubled. The feedback from our in-person conferences has been resoundingly positive.

我們繼續返回面對面的會議。 10 月，我們在佛羅里達州奧蘭多舉辦了兩次旗艦會議，IT Symposium 和 ReimagineHR。與 2019 年相比，IT Symposium 的出席人數增加了 12%，ReimagineHR 的出席人數翻了一番。我們面對面會議的反饋非常積極。

Gartner Consulting is an extension of Gartner Research. Consulting helps clients execute their most strategic initiatives through deeper extended project-based work. Consulting revenue grew 21% in the third quarter.

Gartner Consulting 是 Gartner Research 的延伸。諮詢通過更深入的基於項目的工作幫助客戶執行他們最具戰略意義的計劃。第三季度諮詢收入增長了 21%。

Over the past few quarters, the rapid growth of our business outpaced hiring. This quarter, our associate base grew 18% year-over-year. This provides the capacity we need to serve our rapidly growing base of licensed users and positions us for sustained future growth.

在過去幾個季度，我們業務的快速增長超過了招聘。本季度，我們的員工人數同比增長 18%。這為我們提供了為快速增長的許可用戶群提供服務所需的容量，並使我們為未來的持續增長做好了準備。

In closing, Gartner delivered another strong performance. We've caught up on hiring and are positioned to deliver sustained future growth. Our underlying margins are in the low 20s, comfortably above pre-pandemic levels. We expect them to modestly increase over time. We'll continue to generate significant free cash flow in excess of net income. And we'll continue to return significant levels of capital to our shareholders.

最後，Gartner 再次表現強勁。我們已經趕上了招聘，並有能力實現未來的持續增長。我們的基本利潤率處於 20 多歲的低位，遠高於大流行前的水平。我們預計它們會隨著時間的推移而適度增加。我們將繼續產生超過淨收入的大量自由現金流。我們將繼續向股東返還大量資本。

With that, I'll turn the call over to our Chief Financial Officer, Craig Safian.

有了這個，我將把電話轉給我們的首席財務官 Craig Safian。

Thank you, Gene, and good morning. Third quarter results were strong with double-digit growth in contract value, revenue and adjusted EPS. FX-neutral growth was even stronger than our reported results. We also delivered better-than-planned EBITDA margins.

謝謝你，吉恩，早上好。第三季度業績強勁，合同價值、收入和調整後每股收益均實現兩位數增長。外匯中性增長甚至強於我們報告的結果。我們還實現了好於計劃的 EBITDA 利潤率。

Reflecting the strong third quarter, enthusiastic demand for our in-person conferences and continued success in balancing cost discipline with investing for future growth, we are again increasing our 2022 guidance.

鑑於第三季度強勁、對面對面會議的熱情需求以及在平衡成本紀律與未來增長投資方面的持續成功，我們再次提高了 2022 年的指導。

Third quarter revenue was $1.3 billion, up 15% year-over-year as reported and 20% FX-neutral. In addition, total contribution margin was 69%, down 20 basis points versus the prior year. EBITDA was $332 million, up 9% year-over-year and up 15% FX-neutral. Adjusted EPS was $2.41, up 19%. And free cash flow in the quarter was $283 million.

第三季度收入為 13 億美元，同比增長 15%，外匯中性增長 20%。此外，總邊際貢獻率為 69%，較上年下降 20 個基點。 EBITDA 為 3.32 億美元，同比增長 9%，外匯中性增長 15%。調整後每股收益為 2.41 美元，增長 19%。本季度的自由現金流為 2.83 億美元。

Research revenue in the third quarter grew 11% year-over-year as reported and 15% on an FX-neutral basis, driven by our strong contract value growth. Third quarter Research contribution margin was 74%, modestly below last year. The continued higher-than-normal contribution margin reflects improved operational effectiveness, increased scale, travel expenses still modestly below our post-pandemic expectations and research-related head count with a bit more catch-up still to go.

在我們強勁的合同價值增長的推動下，第三季度的研究收入同比增長 11%，在外匯中性基礎上增長 15%。第三季度研究貢獻率為 74%，略低於去年。持續高於正常水平的邊際貢獻反映了運營效率的提高、規模的擴大、差旅費用仍略低於我們大流行後的預期以及與研究相關的人數，還有更多的追趕。

Contract value or CV was $4.5 billion at the end of the third quarter, up 14.5% versus the prior year. CV growth is always FX-neutral. Excluding the impact of exiting Russia, growth for Q3 would have been 14.9%.

第三季度末合同價值或 CV 為 45 億美元，比去年同期增長 14.5%。 CV 增長始終是外匯中性的。排除退出俄羅斯的影響，第三季度的增長率為 14.9%。

Quarterly net contract value increase, or NCVI, was $128 million. Quarterly NCVI is a helpful way to measure contract value performance in the quarter even though there is notable seasonality in this metric.

季度淨合同價值增加（NCVI）為 1.28 億美元。季度 NCVI 是衡量該季度合同價值表現的一種有用方法，即使該指標存在明顯的季節性。

The sequential increase in CV of $128 million was driven by the combination of continued strong retention rates and near record new business of almost $250 million, similar to the second quarter of this year and the third quarter of 2021. The 14.9% contract value growth was broad-based across practices, industry sectors, company sizes and geographic regions.

CV 環比增長 1.28 億美元，這是由持續強勁的保留率和接近創紀錄的近 2.5 億美元的新業務共同推動的，與今年第二季度和 2021 年第三季度相似。合同價值增長 14.9%廣泛的實踐、行業部門、公司規模和地理區域。

Our technology practice grew 13%, and all of our business practices led by HR and supply chain grew at double-digit growth rates. All industry sectors, including technology, grew at double-digit rates with the fastest growth in transportation, retail and manufacturing. We had double-digit growth across all of our enterprise-sized categories with our medium category growing the fastest. In the small category, the technology sector continued to grow at double-digit rates.

我們的技術實踐增長了 13%，我們以人力資源和供應鍊為主導的所有業務實踐都以兩位數的增長率增長。包括技術在內的所有行業都以兩位數的速度增長，其中交通、零售和製造業增長最快。我們在所有企業級類別中均實現了兩位數的增長，其中中型類別增長最快。在小型類別中，技術部門繼續以兩位數的速度增長。

We also drove double-digit growth across all of our top 10 countries other than China, where we saw continued single-digit growth. Across our North America and Europe, Middle East and Africa regions, all industry sectors had double-digit growth rates.

我們還推動了除中國以外的所有前 10 個國家/地區的兩位數增長，在這些國家中，我們看到了持續的個位數增長。在我們的北美和歐洲、中東和非洲地區，所有行業部門都有兩位數的增長率。

Global Technology Sales contract value was $3.5 billion at the end of the third quarter, up 13% versus the prior year. GTS had quarterly NCVI of $88 million, driven by strong retention and near record levels of new business for a third quarter while retention for GTS was again strong at 107% for the quarter, up about 310 basis points year-over-year.

截至第三季度末，全球技術銷售合同價值為 35 億美元，同比增長 13%。 GTS 的季度 NCVI 為 8800 萬美元，這得益於第三季度強勁的留存率和接近創紀錄水平的新業務，而 GTS 本季度的留存率再次強勁，達到 107%，同比增長約 310 個基點。

GTS new business was down 5% versus last year, up against another tough compare. The 2-year compound annual growth rate was about 9%. GTS quota-bearing head count was up 16% compared to September of last year. Our continued investments in our sales teams will drive long-term sustained double-digit growth.

GTS 新業務與去年相比下降了 5%，這是另一個艱難的比較。 2年復合年增長率約為9%。與去年 9 月相比，GTS 配額人數增加了 16%。我們對銷售團隊的持續投資將推動長期持續兩位數的增長。

Our regular full set of GTS metrics can be found in the appendix of our earnings supplement.

我們常規的全套 GTS 指標可以在我們的收益補充附錄中找到。

Global Business Sales contract value was $977 million at the end of the third quarter, up 21% year-over-year, which is above the high end of our medium-term outlook of 12% to 16%. GBS CV increased $40 million from the second quarter while retention for GBS was 114% for the quarter, up about 120 basis points year-over-year. GBS new business was up 1% compared to last year against a strong compare. The 2-year compound annual growth rate for new business was 18%. GBS quota-bearing head count increased 19% year-over-year. Head count we hire in 2022 will help to position us for sustained double-digit growth in the future.

第三季度末全球商業銷售合同價值為 9.77 億美元，同比增長 21%，高於我們中期預期 12% 至 16% 的高端。 GBS CV 比第二季度增加了 4000 萬美元，而 GBS 本季度的留存率為 114%，同比增長約 120 個基點。與去年相比，GBS 新業務增長 1%。新業務的 2 年復合年增長率為 18%。 GBS 配額人數同比增長 19%。我們在 2022 年招聘的員工人數將有助於我們在未來實現持續兩位數的增長。

As with GTS, our regular full set of GBS metrics can be found in the appendix of our earnings supplement.

與 GTS 一樣，我們的常規全套 GBS 指標可以在我們的收益補充附錄中找到。

Conferences revenue for the third quarter was $77 million, ahead of our expectations as attendees and exhibitors were excited to get back to the in-person experience. Contribution margin in the quarter was 52%. We held 10 in-person conferences and 3 virtual conferences in the quarter. We held Evanta meetings in both virtual and in-person formats.

第三季度的會議收入為 7700 萬美元，超出了我們的預期，因為與會者和參展商很高興能回到現場體驗。本季度的貢獻率為52%。我們在本季度舉行了 10 場面對面會議和 3 場虛擬會議。我們以虛擬和麵對面的形式舉行了 Evanta 會議。

We plan to run 9 in-person destination conferences in the fourth quarter and have updated our guidance to reflect the strong demand we are seeing.

我們計劃在第四季度舉辦 9 場面對面的目的地會議，並更新了我們的指導以反映我們看到的強勁需求。

Third quarter Consulting revenues increased by 13% year-over-year to $107 million. On an FX-neutral basis, revenues were up 21%. Consulting contribution margin was 35% in the third quarter, up 210 basis points versus the prior year with better-than-expected revenue and higher utilization rates.

第三季度諮詢收入同比增長 13% 至 1.07 億美元。在外匯中性的基礎上，收入增長了 21%。第三季度的諮詢貢獻利潤率為 35%，比去年同期增長 210 個基點，收入好於預期，利用率更高。

Labor-based revenues were $90 million, up 16% versus Q3 of last year and up 26% on an FX-neutral basis. Backlog at September 30 was $162 million, increasing 33% year-over-year on an FX-neutral basis with another strong bookings quarter. The inclusion of multiyear contracts in our backlog calculation, a change we described earlier in the year, contributed about 11 percentage points to the year-over-year growth rate.

基於勞動力的收入為 9000 萬美元，比去年第三季度增長 16%，在外匯中性的基礎上增長 26%。 9 月 30 日的積壓訂單為 1.62 億美元，在外匯中性的基礎上同比增長 33%，另一個季度的預訂量強勁。在我們的積壓計算中包含多年合同，這是我們在今年早些時候描述的變化，對同比增長率貢獻了約 11 個百分點。

Our contract optimization business declined 3% as reported and 1% on an FX-neutral basis versus the prior year. As we have detailed in the past, this part of the Consulting segment is highly variable.

我們的合同優化業務與去年相比下降了 3%，在外匯中性基礎上下降了 1%。正如我們過去詳述的那樣，諮詢部門的這一部分是高度可變的。

Consolidated cost of services increased 16% year-over-year in the third quarter as reported and 21% on an FX-neutral basis. The biggest drivers of the increase were higher head count to support our continued strong growth and the return to in-person destination conferences.

據報導，第三季度綜合服務成本同比增長 16%，在外匯中性基礎上增長 21%。增長的最大驅動力是更多的員工人數，以支持我們持續強勁的增長以及回歸面對面的目的地會議。

SG&A increased 20% year-over-year in the third quarter as reported and 24% on an FX-neutral basis. SG&A increased in the quarter as a result of added head count for sales and G&A functions and higher commissions following a strong CV growth in 2021. We expect SG&A expenses to increase as a percentage of revenue over the near term as our catch-up hiring continues.

據報導，SG&A 在第三季度同比增長 20%，在外匯中性的基礎上增長 24%。由於 2021 年 CV 強勁增長，銷售和 G&A 職能的人數增加以及佣金增加，本季度 SG&A 有所增加。我們預計，隨著我們繼續追趕招聘，SG&A 費用在短期內佔收入的百分比將增加.

EBITDA for the third quarter was $332 million, up 9% year-over-year on a reported basis and up 15% FX-neutral. Third quarter EBITDA upside to our guidance reflected revenue exceeding our forecast and expenses at the low end of our expectations.

第三季度的 EBITDA 為 3.32 億美元，在報告的基礎上同比增長 9%，在外匯中性的情況下增長 15%。第三季度 EBITDA 高於我們的指引反映了收入超過了我們的預測，而支出處於我們預期的低端。

Depreciation in the third quarter of $23 million was down modestly versus 2021.

與 2021 年相比，第三季度 2300 萬美元的折舊略有下降。

Net interest expense, excluding deferred financing costs in the quarter, was $29 million, down a little over $1 million versus the third quarter of 2021, mainly due to lower interest rate swap costs. The modest floating rate debt we have is fully hedged through maturity.

本季度不包括遞延融資成本的淨利息支出為 2900 萬美元，比 2021 年第三季度減少了 100 萬美元多一點，這主要是由於利率掉期成本降低。我們擁有的適度浮動利率債務在到期時已完全對沖。

The Q3 adjusted tax rate, which we use for the calculation of adjusted net income, was 24.7% for the quarter. The tax rate for the items used to adjust net income was 20.2% for the quarter.

我們用於計算調整後淨收入的第三季度調整後稅率為 24.7%。本季度用於調整淨利潤的項目的稅率為 20.2%。

Adjusted EPS in Q3 was $2.41, growth of 19% year-over-year. The average share count for the third quarter was 80 million shares. This is a reduction of about 4.7 million shares or about 5.6% year-over-year. We exited the third quarter with about 80 million shares outstanding on an unweighted basis.

第三季度調整後每股收益為 2.41 美元，同比增長 19%。第三季度的平均股數為8000萬股。同比減少約 470 萬股或約 5.6%。我們在未加權基礎上以約 8000 萬股已發行股票退出第三季度。

Operating cash flow for the quarter was $315 million, down 9% compared to last year.

本季度的經營現金流為 3.15 億美元，與去年相比下降了 9%。

CapEx for the quarter was $32 million, up about $18 million year-over-year, led by increases in capitalized technology, labor costs and catch-up laptop spends.

本季度的資本支出為 3200 萬美元，同比增長約 1800 萬美元，這主要得益於資本化技術、勞動力成本和追趕筆記本電腦支出的增長。

Free cash flow for the quarter was $283 million. Free cash flow growth continues to be an important part of our business model with modest CapEx needs and upfront client payments.

本季度的自由現金流為 2.83 億美元。自由現金流增長仍然是我們商業模式的重要組成部分，資本支出需求適度，客戶預付款。

As many of you know, we generate free cash flow well in excess of net income. Our conversion from EBITDA is very strong with the differences being cash interest, cash taxes and modest CapEx partially offset by strong working capital cash inflows. Adjusting for the insurance proceeds we received last year, free cash flow as a percent of revenue or free cash flow margin was 19% on a rolling 4-quarter basis. On the same basis, free cash flow was 76% of EBITDA and 137% of GAAP net income.

正如你們許多人所知，我們產生的自由現金流遠遠超過淨收入。我們從 EBITDA 的轉換非常強勁，現金利息、現金稅和適度的資本支出部分被強勁的營運資金現金流入所抵消。調整我們去年收到的保險收益，自由現金流佔收入的百分比或自由現金流利潤率為 19%，連續 4 個季度。在相同的基礎上，自由現金流為 EBITDA 的 76% 和 GAAP 淨收入的 137%。

At the end of the third quarter, we had $529 million of cash.

在第三季度末，我們有 5.29 億美元的現金。

On September 30, debt balance was $2.5 billion.

9 月 30 日，債務餘額為 25 億美元。

Our reported gross debt to trailing 12-month EBITDA was under 2x. Our expected free cash flow generation, unused revolver and excess cash remaining on the balance sheet provide ample liquidity to deliver on our capital allocation strategy of share repurchases and strategic tuck-in M&A.

我們報告的過去 12 個月 EBITDA 的總債務低於 2 倍。我們預期的自由現金流產生、未使用的左輪手槍和資產負債表上剩餘的多餘現金提供了充足的流動性，以實現我們的股票回購和戰略性併購的資本分配戰略。

Our balance sheet is very strong with $1.5 billion of liquidity, low levels of leverage and effectively fixed interest rates.

我們的資產負債表非常強勁，擁有 15 億美元的流動性、低水平的槓桿和有效的固定利率。

We repurchased more than $1 billion worth of stock through the end of the third quarter. We had about $600 million remaining on our authorization at the end of September, which we expect the Board will continue to refresh as needed going forward.

截至第三季度末，我們回購了價值超過 10 億美元的股票。截至 9 月底，我們的授權剩餘約 6 億美元，我們預計董事會將繼續根據需要進行更新。

Since the end of the end of 2020 through the end of this September, we've reduced our shares outstanding by 10 million shares. This is a reduction of 11%. As we continue to repurchase shares, we expect our capital base will shrink. This is accretive to earnings per share, and combined with growing profits, also delivers increasing returns on invested capital over time.

從 2020 年底到今年 9 月底，我們已將流通股減少了 1000 萬股。這減少了 11%。隨著我們繼續回購股票，我們預計我們的資本基礎將會縮減。這會增加每股收益，再加上不斷增長的利潤，隨著時間的推移，投資資本的回報也會不斷增加。

We are increasing our full year guidance to reflect strong Q3 performance and an improved outlook for the fourth quarter despite incremental FX headwinds. We now expect an FX impact to our full year revenue growth rate of about 420 basis points for the full year. This is up from 370 basis points based on rates when we guided in August.

儘管外匯逆風增加，但我們正在增加我們的全年指導以反映強勁的第三季度業績和第四季度的改善前景。我們現在預計外匯對我們全年收入增長率的影響約為 420 個基點。這高於我們在 8 月指導時基於利率的 370 個基點。

As we discussed the last 3 quarters, 2021 Research performance benefited from several factors, including QBH tenure mix, NCVI phasing within the quarters and year, record retention rates and strong nonsubscription growth. The growth compares will continue to be challenging for a few more quarters. We continue to take a measured approach based on historical trends and patterns, which we reflected in the updated guidance.

正如我們在過去 3 個季度討論的那樣，2021 年的研究業績受益於幾個因素，包括 QBH 任期組合、季度和年度內的 NCVI 分階段、創紀錄的保留率和強勁的非訂閱增長。在接下來的幾個季度中，增長比較將繼續具有挑戰性。我們繼續根據歷史趨勢和模式採取衡量方法，我們在更新的指南中有所反映。

For Conferences, we assume we will be able to run all 9 in-person conferences as planned.

對於會議，我們假設我們將能夠按計劃舉辦所有 9 場面對面會議。

Consistent with our commentary in the past couple of quarters, our assumptions for consolidated expenses continue to reflect significant head count increases during the fourth quarter to support current and future growth. We continue to model higher labor costs and T&E well above 2021 levels as we've previously indicated. We also have higher commission expense during 2022 due to the exceptional performance we delivered in 2021. Finally, we continue to invest in our tech, both client-facing and internal applications as part of our innovation and continuous improvement programs.

與我們過去幾個季度的評論一致，我們對合併費用的假設繼續反映第四季度員工人數的顯著增加，以支持當前和未來的增長。正如我們之前所指出的，我們將繼續模擬更高的勞動力成本和遠高於 2021 年水平的 T&E。由於我們在 2021 年交付的卓越表現，我們在 2022 年的佣金費用也更高。最後，作為我們創新和持續改進計劃的一部分，我們將繼續投資於面向客戶和內部應用程序的技術。

Our updated guidance for 2022 is as follows: we expect Research revenue of at least $4.58 billion, which is FX-neutral growth of about 16%. The FX-neutral growth is up about 60 basis points from our prior guidance due to strong NCVI performance in the third quarter.

我們對 2022 年的最新指引如下：我們預計研究收入至少為 45.8 億美元，即外匯中性增長約 16%。由於第三季度的強勁 NCVI 表現，外匯中性增長比我們之前的指導高出約 60 個基點。

We expect Conferences revenue of at least $375 million, which is growth of about 84% FX-neutral.

我們預計會議收入至少為 3.75 億美元，在外匯中性的情況下增長約 84%。

We expect Consulting revenue of at least $450 million, which is growth of about 14% FX-neutral.

我們預計諮詢收入至少為 4.5 億美元，在外匯中性的情況下增長約 14%。

The result is an outlook for consolidated revenue of at least $5.40 billion, which is FX-neutral growth of almost 19%. The FX-neutral growth is up about 180 basis points from our prior guidance due to strong performance in the third quarter and an improved outlook for Q4. Without the strengthening U.S. dollar since August, our revenue outlook would have been about $85 million higher than previous guidance.

結果是合併收入的前景至少為 54 億美元，即外匯中性增長近 19%。由於第三季度的強勁表現和第四季度的前景改善，外匯中性增長比我們之前的指導高出約 180 個基點。如果沒有自 8 月以來美元走強，我們的收入前景將比之前的指引高出約 8500 萬美元。

We now expect full year EBITDA of at least $1.36 billion, up $125 million from our prior guidance and an increase in our margin outlook as well. Without the strengthening U.S. dollar since August, our EBITDA guidance would have been about $136 million higher than previous guidance.

我們現在預計全年 EBITDA 至少為 13.6 億美元，比我們之前的指引增加 1.25 億美元，我們的利潤率前景也有所增加。如果沒有自 8 月以來美元走強，我們的 EBITDA 指引將比之前的指引高出約 1.36 億美元。

We now expect 2022 adjusted EPS of at least $10.06 per share. For 2022, we now expect free cash flow of at least $1.025 billion.

我們現在預計 2022 年調整後的每股收益至少為 10.06 美元。我們現在預計 2022 年的自由現金流至少為 10.25 億美元。

Our EPS guidance is based on 81 million shares, which reflects year-to-date repurchases.

我們的每股收益指引基於 8100 萬股，反映了年初至今的回購。

As a result, we expect to deliver at least $310 million of EBITDA in the fourth quarter of 2022.

因此，我們預計在 2022 年第四季度至少實現 3.1 億美元的 EBITDA。

All the details of our full year guidance are included on our Investor Relations site.

我們全年指導的所有細節都包含在我們的投資者關係網站上。

Our strong performance in 2022 continued in the third quarter with momentum across the business. Contract value grew 14%. Adjusted EPS increased 19%, fueled in part by the significant reduction of shares over the past year. We are adding associates across the business to keep up with our growth and to position us well heading into 2023. Our continued investments in our teams will drive long-term sustained double-digit growth. We repurchased more than $1 billion in stock this year through September and remain committed to returning excess capital to our shareholders over time.

我們在 2022 年的強勁表現在第三季度繼續保持，整個業務勢頭強勁。合同價值增長了 14%。調整後的每股收益增長了 19%，部分原因是過去一年股價大幅下跌。我們正在整個業務範圍內增加員工，以跟上我們的增長，並為進入 2023 年做好準備。我們對團隊的持續投資將推動長期持續兩位數的增長。今年截至 9 月，我們回購了超過 10 億美元的股票，並繼續致力於隨著時間的推移將多餘的資本返還給我們的股東。

Looking out over the medium term, our financial model and expectations are unchanged. With 12% to 16% Research CV growth, we will deliver double-digit revenue growth. With gross margin expansion, sales costs growing in line with CV growth and G&A leverage, we can modestly expand margins. We can grow free cash flow at least as fast as EBITDA because of our modest CapEx needs and the benefits of our clients paying us upfront. And we'll continue to deploy our capital on share repurchases, which will lower the share count over time and on strategic value-enhancing tuck-in M&A.

展望中期，我們的財務模式和預期保持不變。隨著 12% 到 16% 的研究簡歷增長，我們將實現兩位數的收入增長。隨著毛利率的擴大、銷售成本的增長與 CV 的增長和 G&A 槓桿作用相一致，我們可以適度擴大利潤率。由於我們適度的資本支出需求和客戶預付給我們的好處，我們的自由現金流增長速度至少可以與 EBITDA 一樣快。我們將繼續將我們的資金用於股票回購，這將隨著時間的推移降低股票數量，並用於提高戰略價值的併購。

With that, I'll turn the call back over to the operator, and we'll be happy to take your questions. Operator?

有了這個，我會把電話轉給接線員，我們很樂意回答你的問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Jeffrey Meuler with Baird.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Baird 的 Jeffrey Meuler。

Just maybe If I could better understand the messaging on where you are in terms of catch-up hiring. I thought from Gene's comments you talked about 18% associate growth and having the capacity you needed being caught up on hiring. But then it seemed like in Craig's comments, you're still calling out some areas where you're still in the process of doing catch-up hiring and you're maintaining the low 20s underlying margin target despite seemingly run rating above that on a seasonally adjusted basis. So just if I could better understand where you are in that process.

只是也許如果我能更好地理解你在追趕招聘方面的信息。我從 Gene 的評論中認為，您談到了 18% 的員工增長，並擁有您需要的能力來趕上招聘。但是，在克雷格的評論中，您似乎仍在指出您仍在進行追趕招聘的某些領域，並且儘管看似運行評級高於經季節性調整的基礎。所以如果我能更好地理解你在那個過程中的位置。

Hey, Jeff, it's Gene. So the 18% associate growth that we talked about on the call is largely catch-up hiring. If you look over the last 3 years or so, we had very robust growth in our business and our hiring lagged behind that.

嘿，傑夫，是吉恩。因此，我們在電話會議上談到的 18% 的員工增長主要是追趕招聘。如果您回顧過去 3 年左右的時間，我們的業務增長非常強勁，而我們的招聘卻落後於此。

To give you flavor for it, the compound growth rate of contract value was about 11% and the compound growth rate of head count was about 5.5%. And so it lagged a lot. We got behind.

為了給你帶來味道，合同價值的複合增長率約為11%，員工人數的複合增長率約為5.5%。所以它滯後了很多。我們落後了。

The good news is that we're, as of Q3, end of Q3, we're almost fully caught up. And so we expect to see not the same rate of hiring as we go into Q4 next year. We expect to normalize more -- which we've done traditionally, which is to have our head count growth -- have CV grow about 5 or 6 points higher than actual head count growth going forward.

好消息是，截至第三季度末，我們幾乎完全趕上了。因此，我們預計明年第四季度的招聘率不會相同。我們希望實現更多正常化——這是我們傳統上所做的，即我們的員工人數增長——讓 CV 增長比未來的實際員工人數增長高出約 5 或 6 個百分點。

Okay. And then obviously notable the big step-up in GTS quota bearers. I guess just to what extent are you seeing signs of unmet demand that you're fulfilling? And I don't know if that's showing up in the new business sold metric within GTS, which also has the tough comp. Just trying to understand to what extent maybe the 12% or 12.5%, whatever it was, CV growth in GTS has been governed down because of some sales capacity constraints that you're addressing versus to what extent this is about getting out ahead of demand and build the capacity into what's still a good demand momentum environment.

好的。然後顯然值得注意的是 GTS 配額持有者的大幅增加。我想你在多大程度上看到了你正在滿足的未滿足需求的跡象？而且我不知道這是否會出現在 GTS 中的新業務銷售指標中，該指標也有很強的競爭力。只是想了解可能 12% 或 12.5%，不管它是什麼，GTS 中的 CV 增長由於您正在解決的一些銷售能力限製而受到抑制，而不是在多大程度上超出需求並將能力建設到仍然良好的需求動能環境中。

Jeff, it's Craig. Just a couple of points and then Gene will fill in any blanks. So as Gene mentioned, we did fall behind in terms of our head count hiring across the business, but probably most notably in GTS over the course of 2021, especially as that segment's CV really accelerated. And so a lot of what we were doing starting in the first and second quarter of '21 and through the first 3 quarters of this year is catching up and filling open territories.

傑夫，是克雷格。只需幾個點，然後 Gene 將填補任何空白。因此，正如 Gene 所提到的，我們在整個業務的招聘人數方面確實落後了，但可能在 2021 年期間在 GTS 中最為明顯，尤其是在該部門的 CV 確實加速增長的情況下。因此，我們從 21 年第一季度和第二季度開始，一直到今年前三個季度，我們所做的很多事情都在迎頭趕上並填補空缺領域。

And the open territory challenge and opportunity was a little exacerbated by the accelerated growth. And we had to promote more people than we normally do, as we've talked about in previous quarters, at the beginning of the year, which put even more of an emphasis on making sure that we were recruiting and growing our quota-bearing hire base.

開放領域的挑戰和機遇因加速增長而有所加劇。我們不得不提拔比往常更多的人，正如我們在前幾個季度中談到的那樣，在今年年初，這更加強調確保我們正在招聘和增加我們的配額僱員根據。

And so if you think about it, and again, we talked about this when we did our initial guide for the year as well, which was last year we had the benefit of the highest proportion of tenured sellers that we've ever had. Obviously, this year, it reversed. And as we roll into next year, we expect it to be more "normal" like we've seen historically.

因此，如果您考慮一下，我們在製定年度初始指南時也談到了這一點，去年我們受益於我們曾經擁有的最高比例的終身賣家。顯然，今年，情況發生了逆轉。隨著我們進入明年，我們預計它會像我們在歷史上看到的那樣更加“正常”。

And so all those dynamics are at play as well. And again, as you think about Gene's comment earlier on, we're catching up, but we're also making sure that we are seeding the ground with investments so that we can sustain our double-digit growth into the future.

所以所有這些動態也在起作用。再一次，當你想到 Gene 早些時候的評論時，我們正在迎頭趕上，但我們也確保我們正在通過投資播種，以便我們能夠在未來保持兩位數的增長。

Our next question comes from the line of Toni Kaplan with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的托尼卡普蘭。

I wanted to ask on the Conferences side. Symposium had better attendance than pre-pandemic. Are there any gating factors that should lead 2023 to not be fully back to 2019 levels or higher just assuming that current travel restrictions stay as they are now?

我想在會議方面問。研討會的出席人數比大流行前要好。假設當前的旅行限制保持現狀，是否有任何限制因素導致 2023 年不能完全回到 2019 年或更高的水平？

Thanks for the question. So it's been great to return to in-person conferences. And as we've said in the past few quarters and Gene referenced some large October conferences as well, we've had exhibitors and attendees really enthusiastically return, which is awesome. And the conferences are hugely valuable to everyone who goes and it's just -- it's super valuable to the entire Gartner franchise.

謝謝你的問題。所以回到面對面的會議真是太好了。正如我們在過去幾個季度中所說的那樣，Gene 也提到了 10 月份的一些大型會議，我們的參展商和與會者非常熱情地返回，這太棒了。會議對參加的每個人都非常有價值，而且對整個 Gartner 特許經營權來說非常有價值。

As we look towards 2023, and again, we'll give guidance in February around the full calendar of '23 conferences, et cetera, we're not going to be anywhere near the 70 conferences, destination conferences, that we delivered in 2019. We are carefully building back up. Our goal over the long term is to have a conference for every major function that we cover in every major geography in which we do business, but we can't just snap our fingers and be there. It takes time to build those up and to relaunch them.

當我們展望 2023 年時，我們將在 2 月再次圍繞 23 年會議的完整日曆提供指導，等等，我們不會接近我們在 2019 年舉辦的 70 場會議、目的地會議。我們正在仔細建立備份。從長遠來看，我們的目標是為我們在開展業務的每個主要地區所涵蓋的每個主要職能部門召開一次會議，但我們不能只是打個響指然後就在那裡。建立這些並重新啟動它們需要時間。

And so we're taking a measured approach in doing that. We're going to be as aggressive as we can, but we're going to be nowhere near the 70 conferences that we ran in 2019 pre-pandemic.

因此，我們正在採取一種謹慎的方法來做到這一點。我們將盡可能地積極進取，但距離我們在 2019 年大流行前舉行的 70 場會議還差得很遠。

Okay. Great. And I actually wanted to ask about that, the new business growth as well. So you mentioned the GTS of down 5% and GBS up 1%. I know the comp was very tough and the 2-year CAGRs are good. I guess I always thought with the sales hiring that those would be higher, I know you said you still have catch-up that you're doing. But I guess, like what are your thoughts on the level of like those new business levels.

好的。偉大的。我實際上想問一下，新業務的增長也是如此。所以你提到 GTS 下降 5%，GBS 上升 1%。我知道比賽非常艱難，而且 2 年的複合年增長率很好。我想我一直認為銷售招聘會更高，我知道你說你還在追趕你正在做的事情。但我想，您對這些新業務級別的想法有何看法。

And I guess I'm only asking because everything else seemed like -- is going really, really strong. And so that's sort of the one area that I think maybe you could pick at. So just what are your thoughts on the new business.

而且我想我只是在問，因為其他一切似乎 - 正在變得非常非常強大。所以這就是我認為也許你可以選擇的一個領域。那麼您對新業務有何看法。

Toni, it's Gene. So our new business was at an all-time high. So just keeping it clear, it wasn't like it was not a good (inaudible) from dollars was at an all-time -- it was near an all-time high.

托尼，是吉恩。因此，我們的新業務處於歷史最高水平。因此，請保持清楚，從美元來看，這並不是一個好消息（聽不清）——它接近歷史最高點。

Secondly, the fact that it's impacted new business the most is what Craig talked about in terms of the proportion of our sales force is tenured versus not tenured. Last year, we had, as Craig mentioned, the highest proportion of tenured salespeople that we have on record. This year, because of promotions and growth hiring, we had among the lowest proportion of tenured salespeople on record. And a tenured salesperson sells whole number multiples higher more in new business than a non-tenured salesperson. The productivity accelerates rapidly during the salesperson's first 3 years. And that's the primary factor that impacted our new business in Q3.

其次，它對新業務的影響最大的事實是克雷格談到我們的銷售人員是終身製還是非終身製的比例。正如克雷格所說，去年，我們擁有的終身銷售人員的比例是有記錄以來最高的。今年，由於晉升和增長招聘，我們的終身銷售人員比例是有記錄以來最低的。與非終身銷售人員相比，終身銷售人員在新業務中的銷售額要高出整數倍。在銷售人員的前 3 年，生產力迅速提高。這是影響我們第三季度新業務的主要因素。

Our next question comes from the line of Andrew Nicholas with William Blair.

我們的下一個問題來自 Andrew Nicholas 和 William Blair。

I wanted to start just with a question on kind of sales activity levels as the quarter progressed and maybe into October. Did notice any -- I mean it seems like double-digit growth across every practice, every industry, every region, every client size. But was there any kind of distinguishing change over the course of the quarter? Or are those conversations and the length of contract cycles relatively consistent with what you've seen year-to-date?

我想從一個關於銷售活動水平的問題開始，隨著季度的進展，也許到 10 月。有沒有註意到——我的意思是，每一個實踐、每一個行業、每一個地區、每一個客戶規模似乎都有兩位數的增長。但是在本季度的過程中是否有任何明顯的變化？或者這些對話和合同周期的長度是否與您今年迄今為止所看到的相對一致？

So during the quarter, I would say it was typical with September being slightly stronger than with a little bit more acceleration during the quarter than you might normally see. But within a small range, call it, overall, a pretty normal quarter.

因此，在本季度，我會說這是典型的情況，即 9 月的表現略強於本季度的加速比您通常看到的要快一些。但在一個很小的範圍內，總的來說，這是一個非常正常的季度。

All right. Great. And then you talked quite a bit about the catch-up hiring in the sales force growth. What about on the kind of T&E side, where do you sit relative to kind of pre-pandemic levels and where you would ultimately expect those expenses to level off? I think last quarter, you talked about the second half of the year being more indicative of normal travel. So just wondering if that's in the third quarter number, if there's still some more increases to expect there as well.

好的。偉大的。然後你談了很多關於銷售隊伍增長的追趕招聘。在 T&E 方面呢，相對於大流行前的水平，您處於什麼位置，您最終預計這些費用會在哪裡趨於平穩？我認為上個季度，您談到下半年更能說明正常的旅行。所以只是想知道這是否是第三季度的數字，是否還有更多的增長可以預期。

Andrew, it's Craig. Yes, so we're obviously orders of magnitude lower than 2019 by design, and that's the way we're going to run it going forward. I would say Q3 is almost back to where we think the new normal should be. So Q3 and Q4 will be pretty close to the new normal, but also recognizing that as we roll out more conferences, as we travel to see our global teams, et cetera, there might be a little bit more lift in the travel number, but not order of magnitude lift, we feel pretty good about where we are.

安德魯，我是克雷格。是的，所以我們的設計顯然比 2019 年低了幾個數量級，這就是我們未來運行它的方式。我想說第三季度幾乎回到了我們認為的新常態。因此，第三季度和第四季度將非常接近新常態，但我們也認識到，隨著我們推出更多會議，當我們前往拜訪我們的全球團隊等時，旅行人數可能會增加一點，但是沒有數量級的提升，我們對自己所處的位置感覺很好。

Again, there's probably a little bit more uplift that we'll see in travel rolling into next year. But Q3 and Q4 are roughly indicative of what we expect moving forward.

同樣，我們可能會在明年的旅行中看到更多的提升。但第三季度和第四季度大致表明了我們對未來的預期。

Our next question comes from the line of Seth Weber with Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Seth Weber。

Wanted to touch on the -- if you could give us any thoughts on the pricing environment. I think last quarter, you've talked about pricing is kind of running a little bit above sort of normal levels. Can you just talk about what you're seeing there and customer appetite for multiyear contracts kind of just given the uncertain environment.

想談談——如果你能給我們關於定價環境的任何想法。我認為上個季度，您談到定價有點高於正常水平。鑑於不確定的環境，您能否談談您在那裡看到的情況以及客戶對多年合同的興趣。

Seth, it's Craig. So agree with your assertion on the pricing. So we -- rolling into this year, we were a little bit more aggressive than we normally have been. So we've typically been in the 3% to 4% range. This year, I think in the 5-ish to 6% range in terms of overall price increase. Similar rolling into next year.

賽斯，是克雷格。因此，同意您對定價的主張。所以我們 - 進入今年，我們比平時更有侵略性。所以我們通常在 3% 到 4% 的範圍內。今年，我認為整體價格漲幅在 5% 到 6% 之間。類似的滾動到明年。

Price increase actually went effective today for most of our clients and sellers around the world. And we haven't seen much friction or pushback from clients on that. Obviously, it is a more inflationary environment. Our costs are going up roughly in that range, and we're roughly pricing to offset that.

對於我們在世界各地的大多數客戶和賣家來說，今天的價格上漲實際上已經生效。我們還沒有看到客戶對此有太大的摩擦或反對。顯然，這是一個更加通脹的環境。我們的成本大致在這個範圍內上升，我們大致定價以抵消這一點。

In terms of the multiyear comment, I think our sales teams do a fantastic job of articulating the value that we can deliver over the short term, over the medium term and over the long term. And they've done a fantastic job of continuing to get our clients to sign up for multiyear contracts. So we haven't really seen a step back in that from clients, either.

就多年評論而言，我認為我們的銷售團隊在闡明我們可以在短期、中期和長期提供的價值方面做得非常出色。他們在繼續讓我們的客戶簽署多年合同方面做得非常出色。因此，我們也沒有真正看到客戶在這方面的退步。

And then maybe just on the share repurchase in the quarter, it stepped down from where it's been trending for the last, I don't know, the last year, 1.5 years or so. Was that just you kind of front end-loaded some of the spending in the first half of the year? Or just -- are you just trying to save some powder for M&A? Or just anything that we should read into the tick down here in the third quarter in share repurchase?

然後也許只是在本季度的股票回購中，它從過去的趨勢中走下坡路，我不知道，去年，1.5 年左右。那隻是你在上半年的一些支出中進行了前端加載嗎？或者只是——你只是想為併購節省一些粉末？或者只是我們應該在第三季度的股票回購中閱讀到這裡的任何內容？

No, I wouldn't read anything into it. I'd say on a year-to-date basis, we're over $1 billion in share repurchases. Over the last 7 quarters, it's $2.6-ish billion of share repurchases. It remains our primary use of capital going forward, and we'll bump up or bump down from time to time, from quarter-to-quarter.

不，我不會讀任何東西。我想說，從年初至今，我們的股票回購額超過了 10 億美元。在過去的 7 個季度中，回購了 2.6 億美元左右的股票。它仍然是我們未來資本的主要用途，我們會不時地增加或減少，從一個季度到另一個季度。

But over the long -- over the last 7 quarters, we've obviously returned a lot of capital to shareholders through our repurchase programs. And moving forward, we expect to return a lot of capital to our shareholders through our repurchase programs.

但長期以來——在過去的 7 個季度中，我們顯然通過我們的回購計劃向股東返還了大量資金。展望未來，我們希望通過我們的回購計劃向股東返還大量資金。

Our next question comes from George Tong with Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的 George Tong。

You had a big step-up in sales head count in 3Q, notably in GTS. Was there any pull forward in hiring from 4Q? Or do you expect to continue to see healthy increases in head count in 4Q on a quarter-over-quarter basis?

您在第三季度的銷售人數大幅增加，特別是在 GTS。從第四季度開始招聘是否有任何進展？還是您預計第四季度的員工人數環比繼續健康增長？

Yes, George. So we're focused on ending the year up double digit in quota-bearing head count, again, really making sure that we're set up to roll into 2023 with full territories and a more tenured sales force, et cetera. There can obviously be a lot of puts and takes. But what I'd say is we expect to end the year for both GTS and GBS with strong double-digit quota-bearing hire growth on a year-over-year basis.

是的，喬治。因此，我們專注於在今年結束時將配額人數增加兩位數，再次真正確保我們準備好進入 2023 年，擁有完整的領土和更長期的銷售隊伍，等等。顯然可以有很多的看跌期權。但我想說的是，我們預計 GTS 和 GBS 的年終將實現強勁的兩位數配額租金同比增長。

Okay. Got it. And then with respect to EBITDA margins, your outlook continues to move higher. Can you just, at a high level, frame for us your evolving views around normalized EBITDA margins and how your investment activity so far this year are on pace to get you back to what normalized spending should be?

好的。知道了。然後就 EBITDA 利潤率而言，您的前景繼續走高。您能否在高層次上為我們構建您對標準化 EBITDA 利潤率的不斷變化的看法，以及您今年迄今為止的投資活動如何讓您回到正常化支出應有的水平？

Yes, absolutely. And Gene, feel free to fill in any blanks here as well. So as Gene mentioned in his prepared remarks and as we have been saying for the last couple of quarters, we now believe the underlying metrics, the underlying margin of the business, is in the low 20s, which is obviously comfortably and well above pre-pandemic levels of EBITDA margins.

是的，一點沒錯。還有 Gene，也可以在這裡填寫任何空白。因此，正如 Gene 在他準備好的評論中提到的那樣，正如我們在過去幾個季度中一直在說的那樣，我們現在認為基本指標，即業務的基本利潤率處於 20 年代的低點，這顯然是舒適且遠高於之前的EBITDA 利潤率的大流行水平。

I think there are a number of factors that have allowed us to increase that outlook as we've gotten comfortable with the way the business is running and the way we're running the business. Most notably, I would say is, one, as Gene mentioned, we're going to grow our CV base about 4 to 5 or 5 to 6 points faster than we grow our quota-bearing hires. That allows us to essentially fix our cost of sale, if you will, or not dilute our margins through cost of sales. We can get gross margin leverage just by virtue of research being our biggest and most profitable segment. And we can get a little G&A leverage as well going forward.

我認為有許多因素使我們能夠提高這種前景，因為我們已經對業務的運行方式和我們的業務運行方式感到滿意。最值得注意的是，正如 Gene 所提到的，我們將把我們的 CV 基數增長大約 4 到 5 或 5 到 6 個點，這比我們增加我們的配額僱員要快。如果您願意，這使我們能夠從根本上固定我們的銷售成本，或者不通過銷售成本稀釋我們的利潤。僅僅因為研究是我們最大和最賺錢的部分，我們就可以獲得毛利率槓桿。我們也可以在未來獲得一點 G&A 影響力。

On top of that, with GBS we're starting to see or we're seeing returns on the investments that we made in 2017 and 2018, and we now have much more scale in that business. There's still a lot of scale to be gained in GBS. But obviously, we're orders of magnitude higher in our contract value than we were pre-pandemic.

最重要的是，通過 GBS，我們開始看到或者我們正在看到我們在 2017 年和 2018 年進行的投資的回報，而且我們現在在該業務中擁有更大的規模。 GBS仍有很大的規模需要獲得。但顯然，我們的合同價值比大流行前高出幾個數量級。

And so again, we -- and then there are other things like real estate and travel where we've just gotten smarter around the way we run our business, which have also helped us to raise our expectation on what the underlying margins of the business are.

再說一次，我們 - 然後還有其他事情，比如房地產和旅行，我們在經營業務的方式上變得更加聰明，這也幫助我們提高了對業務潛在利潤率的預期是。

Clearly, we've done a lot of hiring through the course of 2022. As Gene mentioned and we said multiple times, most of that was catch-up hiring from all the growth we delivered in 2021 and in 2022. Obviously, those costs roll into '23, which is why we're stating and sticking to the fact that our underlying margins are in the low 20s and that we can grow our business at double-digit growth rates moving forward, and we can modestly improve those margins over time as well.

顯然，我們在 2022 年期間進行了大量招聘。正如 Gene 提到並且我們多次說過的那樣，其中大部分是我們在 2021 年和 2022 年實現的所有增長中的赶超招聘。顯然，這些成本會滾動進入 23 年，這就是為什麼我們要聲明並堅持這樣一個事實，即我們的基本利潤率處於 20 多歲的低位，並且我們可以在未來以兩位數的增長率發展我們的業務，並且隨著時間的推移，我們可以適度提高這些利潤率也是。

Our next question comes from the line of Jeffrey Silber with BMO Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自 BMO Capital Markets 的 Jeffrey Silber。

Wanted to go back to the earlier pricing question. I know this segment or this industry that you're in is very broad, but some of the other info services companies that we talk to have started to be a little bit more aggressive in terms of giving price concessions in exchange for multiyear contracts. Are you doing any of that? Are you seeing that in the market as well?

想回到之前的定價問題。我知道您所在的這個細分市場或這個行業非常廣泛，但是我們與之交談的其他一些信息服務公司已經開始在提供價格優惠以換取多年合同方面更加激進。你在做這些嗎？你在市場上也看到了嗎？

Jeff, no, not really. I think we lead with multiyear contracts as sort of the de facto standard. That's generally what our clients want because their mission-critical priorities are not bounded by a 12-month contract term or something like that. And so we've seen no change in the selling environment or the selling motion around the price increase we've talked about earlier as well as our contracted (inaudible).

傑夫，不，不是真的。我認為我們以多年合同作為事實上的標準。這通常是我們的客戶想要的，因為他們的關鍵任務優先級不受 12 個月合同期限或類似條款的限制。因此，我們看到銷售環境或圍繞我們之前談到的價格上漲以及我們的合同（聽不清）的銷售動議沒有變化。

We haven't changed our pricing on multiyear -- on multiyear contracts, the pricing approach has remained the same.

我們沒有改變多年期的定價——多年期合同的定價方法保持不變。

Okay. That's helpful. And I know in your prepared comments, you talked about the strength in your research business being broad-based. I just was wondering if you can parse down a little bit if there are specific end markets that are doing better or worse than others. And I'm specifically interested in Europe versus the U.S.

好的。這很有幫助。而且我知道在您準備好的評論中，您談到了您的研究業務基礎廣泛的優勢。我只是想知道如果有特定的終端市場比其他市場做得更好或更差，你是否可以稍微分析一下。我對歐洲和美國特別感興趣。

So as Craig mentioned, both North America and Europe had double-digit growth in the third quarter.

正如克雷格所說，北美和歐洲在第三季度都有兩位數的增長。

And we saw -- and it was broad based across Europe and North America from an industry and size perspective. So there's really nothing to point to in terms of softness. The average growth for GTS and overall -- for GTS is around 13% and overall around 14%.

我們看到了——從行業和規模的角度來看，它在歐洲和北美都有廣泛的基礎。因此，在柔軟度方面確實沒有什麼可指出的。 GTS 和整體的平均增長——GTS 的平均增長率約為 13%，整體約為 14%。

And when you peel back the onion, it's pretty close to that at lower levels, whether you look regionally, industry, by size, et cetera.

當你剝洋蔥時，無論你從區域、行業、規模等方面看，它都非常接近於較低的水平。

Our next question comes from the line of Manav Patnaik with Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Manav Patnaik。

Gene and Craig, and I guess, historically, I think you guys just talk about how CV growth will be 2 to 3 points about sales force growth. And now on the call, I've heard you say 4, 5 and 6. So in that context, I guess, should we still expect Gartner to keep growing the sales force 10% to 15% year-over-year like you used to message in the past?

Gene 和 Craig，我想，從歷史上看，我認為你們只是談論 CV 增長將如何使銷售人員增長 2 到 3 個百分點。現在在電話會議上，我聽到你說的是 4、5 和 6。所以在這種情況下，我想，我們是否仍然希望 Gartner 像你使用的那樣繼續將銷售隊伍同比增長 10% 到 15%消息過去？

I think the way to think about it is that we want to make sure that our cost of sale, if you will, so sales cost as a percent of CV or percent of revenue, remain roughly fixed. And we believe we can do that by having CV growth at whatever that is or whatever we deliver and toggling the amount of head count growth so that we keep our cost of sale roughly fixed.

我認為考慮它的方式是，我們希望確保我們的銷售成本（如果您願意的話），即銷售成本佔 CV 或收入的百分比，大致保持不變。我們相信，我們可以通過在任何情況下或我們提供的任何內容上實現 CV 增長並切換員工人數增長的數量來實現這一點，以便我們保持銷售成本大致固定。

If CV is growing 20%, then yes, we would grow head count close to 15%. If CV were growing 10%, we would probably -- we would toggle down the growth investment to again lock in -- roughly lock in that overall cost of sale.

如果 CV 增長 20%，那麼是的，我們的員工人數將增長接近 15%。如果 CV 增長 10%，我們可能會——我們會降低增長投資以再次鎖定——大致鎖定總體銷售成本。

And so this is a pivot we made in the second half of 2019 as we shifted to really want to make sure that we got returns on the investments we were making and manage the sales portion of our overall margin.

因此，這是我們在 2019 年下半年做出的一個支點，因為我們轉變為真正希望確保我們獲得投資回報並管理我們整體利潤率的銷售部分。

I think the one difference that you point to, which is the gap between CV growth and head count growth, is really just driven by what we're seeing from a wage inflation perspective. And so when it was a 3- to 4-point gap, that's because that's what we were seeing from wage inflation perspective. Now we're obviously seeing a little bit greater. And so we're just dialing that into our growth algorithm to make sure that we account for it.

我認為你指出的一個區別，即簡歷增長和員工人數增長之間的差距，實際上只是由我們從工資通脹的角度所看到的。所以當它是 3 到 4 個百分點的差距時，那是因為這是我們從工資通脹的角度看到的。現在我們顯然看到了更多。因此，我們只是將其納入我們的增長算法，以確保我們考慮到它。

Got it. And then in the call, Craig, you made comments around SG&A as a percentage revenues being elevated. Was that a fourth quarter specific comment or more longer term? And also just to clarify, you talked about the Q3 and Q4 run rate kind of being where you want it to be, but that was specific to T&E, I believe. Can you just talk about from an overall margin perspective how we should think about today's number versus the low 20s you talked about?

知道了。然後在電話會議中，克雷格，你就 SG&A 作為收入百分比的提高發表了評論。這是第四季度的具體評論還是更長期的評論？還要澄清一下，您談到 Q3 和 Q4 的運行率是您想要的，但我相信那是 T&E 特有的。您能否從整體利潤率的角度談談我們應該如何看待今天的數字與您談到的低 20 年代？

Yes, absolutely. So the SG&A comment is more of a near-term comment. So as we are catching up on the hiring and you think about high teens growth we're seeing in both GTS and GBS, obviously that rolls into next year because we -- the hiring was really concentrated in the back half of the year. And so that will put pressure on the cost of sale and margin as designed into 2023. So it's more of a near-term comment.

是的，一點沒錯。因此，SG&A 評論更多的是近期評論。因此，當我們趕上招聘時，您會想到我們在 GTS 和 GBS 中看到的青少年高增長，顯然這會持續到明年，因為我們 - 招聘真的集中在今年下半年。因此，這將對 2023 年設計的銷售成本和利潤率造成壓力。所以這更像是一個近期的評論。

In terms of the other things we're seeing, again, when we talk about the growing sales force, a little bit -- or growing CV a little bit faster than we're growing the sales force, T&E trends, et cetera, that is more in a steady-state. Obviously, 2022, as we indicated at the beginning of the year and have indicated each quarter as we've moved through the year, there was a lot of catch-up happening in 2022, and that obviously impacts 2023.

就我們看到的其他事情而言，再次，當我們談論不斷增長的銷售隊伍時，一點點 - 或者說 CV 的增長速度比我們正在增長的銷售隊伍、T&E 趨勢等方面要快一點，那就是更多的是處於穩定狀態。顯然，2022 年，正如我們在年初指出的那樣，並且隨著我們在這一年中的每個季度都表明，2022 年發生了很多追趕，這顯然會影響 2023 年。

We believe again that the underlying margins for the business are in the low 20s in that through the combination of the investments we're making, the size of the market opportunity, opportunities in productivity, et cetera, that we can grow the business, the top line at double-digit growth rates and modestly expand margins from that underlying margin in the low 20s.

我們再次相信，業務的基本利潤率在 20 多歲，因為通過我們正在進行的投資、市場機會的規模、生產力機會等的結合，我們可以發展業務，收入以兩位數的增長率增長，並從 20 年代低點的基本利潤率適度擴大利潤率。

Our next question comes from the line of Stephanie Moore with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Stephanie Moore。

I wanted to touch a bit on hiring. Maybe it'll be helpful if you could provide color just on where wage inflation stands, kind of the aggressive hiring that we've seen this year.

我想談談招聘。如果你能提供關於工資通脹狀況的顏色可能會有所幫助，就像我們今年看到的那種激進的招聘。

Stephanie, we had a little trouble hearing you. I think what you asked was just provide a little bit more color around our hiring trends and where we may be seeing more pronounced wage inflation, is that what the question was?

斯蒂芬妮，我們聽你說話有點麻煩。我認為你問的只是為我們的招聘趨勢提供了更多色彩，我們可能會看到更明顯的工資通脹，這就是問題所在嗎？

Yes, I apologize. That is correct.

是的，我道歉。那是對的。

Okay. So I think, and Gene will hop in here, too. I think we have a great associate brand out in the market, especially for sellers, but broadly as well. Sellers know the Gartner brand. Sellers know that Gartner is a very sales-focused organization. And so we're able to really recruit pretty well -- or very well, I should say, in the market. And we have no problems meeting our needs, and the supply is there for us to be able to keep hiring.

好的。所以我認為，吉恩也會加入進來。我認為我們在市場上有一個很好的聯營品牌，特別是對於賣家來說，但也很廣泛。賣家知道 Gartner 品牌。賣家知道 Gartner 是一個非常注重銷售的組織。因此，我們能夠真正很好地招聘——或者我應該說，在市場上招聘得很好。而且我們在滿足我們的需求方面沒有任何問題，而且我們有足夠的供應來繼續招聘。

I think the wage inflation is just what we're seeing when we look at our competitors for talent. And we do lots of surveys and we have a lot of market data, and we're basically just keeping track with the market -- or keeping pace with the market to make sure that in addition to the great associated value proposition that we have that we're actually paying our people at market as well. I don't know, if you want to add anything.

我認為工資膨脹正是我們在尋找人才時看到的。我們做了很多調查，我們有很多市場數據，我們基本上只是跟上市場——或者跟上市場的步伐，以確保除了我們擁有的偉大的相關價值主張之外我們實際上也在市場上付錢給我們的員工。我不知道，如果你想添加任何東西。

But again, if you look at where the highest wage inflation is, it's in countries where inflation is very high like Turkey, for example. We have a small sales force in Turkey and the wage inflation is higher there than it is in like the U.S., for example, and there's other countries around the world. But the places where it's the highest are in the countries where overall inflation rates are higher.

但同樣，如果你看看工資通脹率最高的地方，它是在通脹率非常高的國家，例如土耳其。我們在土耳其有一支小型銷售隊伍，那裡的工資通脹比美國高，例如，世界上還有其他國家。但它最高的地方是總體通貨膨脹率較高的國家。

Understood. And I guess if we take that further, given kind of the step-up in hiring, certainly this year, does that mean that we should expect potentially a step-up in kind of pricing as you look at your contracts over the next coming years, understand if they are a multiyear, just to make up for kind of the investments made this year? Or am I thinking about it incorrectly?

明白了。而且我想如果我們更進一步，考慮到今年招聘的某種程度的提高，這是否意味著我們應該期待在未來幾年你查看你的合同時可能會提高定價，了解他們是否是多年的，只是為了彌補今年所做的投資？還是我想錯了？

No, Stephanie, I wouldn't think about it that way. I would think about the catch-up hiring we're doing is basically really to fulfill all the growth that we sold in 2021 and 2022 and make sure that we can serve and grow that going forward. The pricing is really there as an offset or partial -- as an offset to the wage inflation.

不，斯蒂芬妮，我不會那樣想的。我想我們正在做的追趕招聘基本上是為了實現我們在 2021 年和 2022 年銷售的所有增長，並確保我們能夠在未來服務和增長。定價實際上是作為抵消或部分存在的——作為對工資通脹的抵消。

So we, as Gene mentioned earlier, we fell behind in hiring. He talked about the fact that our CV over the last 3 years has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 11% and our head count has only grown at a compound annual growth rate of 5%. And we had some catching up to do, again to make sure that we can really provide amazing service to our clients and then grow them over time as well.

因此，正如 Gene 之前提到的，我們在招聘方面落後了。他談到，過去 3 年我們的 CV 以 11% 的複合年增長率增長，而我們的員工人數僅以 5% 的複合年增長率增長。我們還有一些工作要做，再次確保我們能夠真正為我們的客戶提供出色的服務，然後隨著時間的推移也讓他們成長。

And so that's the way we're thinking about the catch-up hiring. The price increase is really just to offset wage inflation.

這就是我們考慮追趕招聘的方式。物價上漲實際上只是為了抵消工資上漲。

Understood. And then maybe taking more of a medium-term and long-term -- or longer-term question here. And I appreciate the color that you gave on the underlying EBITDA margin improving over time, efficiency of -- or leverage of the hiring. Could you maybe talk about other investments you might see from just an overall sales force productivity standpoint as we kind of look over the next several years?

明白了。然後可能會在這裡提出更多的中期和長期 - 或長期問題。我很欣賞你對隨著時間的推移而提高的基本 EBITDA 利潤率、招聘效率或槓桿率的看法。您能否談談僅從整體銷售人員生產力的角度來看您可能會看到的其他投資，就像我們在未來幾年的看法一樣？

Stephanie, so we invest across our business and the economics and the margin stuff we talked about includes those investments. We do a lot of investment in the business. We have invested in new internal systems, things like billing so that we can bill up faster and collect faster, so our cash flow is higher and it's also easier for our sales force to generate orders and bills and things like that.

斯蒂芬妮，所以我們投資於我們的業務和經濟，我們談到的利潤包括這些投資。我們在業務上進行了大量投資。我們投資了新的內部系統，比如計費，這樣我們就可以更快地開票和收款，所以我們的現金流更高，我們的銷售人員也更容易生成訂單和賬單之類的東西。

We have -- we constantly invest in new product features. We have a wide variety of products that are tailored for specific roles and we constantly improve those product offerings to provide continuously more value to our clients, which can help strengthen retention rates and growth in new business over time.

我們有——我們不斷投資於新產品功能。我們擁有為特定角色量身定制的種類繁多的產品，我們不斷改進這些產品，以不斷為我們的客戶提供更多價值，這有助於隨著時間的推移提高保留率和新業務的增長。

And so we're continuing to invest in those kinds of areas in our business to make sure we support future growth. All those investments are embedded in the normalized margins that Craig and I referred to.

因此，我們將繼續投資於我們業務中的這些領域，以確保我們支持未來的增長。所有這些投資都包含在克雷格和我提到的標準化利潤率中。

I'm showing no further questions at this time. I'd like to hand the call back over to Gene Hall for closing remarks.

我現在沒有進一步的問題。我想把電話交回給 Gene Hall 做閉幕詞。

So summarizing today's call, for the third quarter, we drove another strong performance across the business. We achieved double-digit growth in contract value, revenue, EBITDA and EPS with strong growth in all practices, all industry sectors across every size client and in every region.

因此，總結今天的電話會議，對於第三季度，我們推動了整個業務的又一次強勁表現。我們在合同價值、收入、EBITDA 和 EPS 方面實現了兩位數的增長，在所有業務、所有行業領域、每個規模的客戶和每個地區都實現了強勁增長。

We've caught up on hiring and are positioned to deliver sustained future growth. Our underlying margins are in the low 20s, comfortably above pre-pandemic levels, and we expect them to modestly increase over time.

我們已經趕上了招聘，並有能力實現未來的持續增長。我們的基本利潤率在 20 多歲，遠高於大流行前的水平，我們預計它們會隨著時間的推移適度增加。

We'll continue to generate significant free cash flow in excess of net income. We'll continue to return significant levels of capital to our shareholders. And we once again -- thanks for joining us today, and I look forward to updating you again in the new year.

我們將繼續產生超過淨收入的大量自由現金流。我們將繼續向股東返還大量資本。我們再次感謝您今天加入我們，我期待在新的一年再次更新您的信息。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。