高德納諮詢公司 (IT) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Gartner's First Quarter 2023 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。歡迎來到 Gartner 2023 年第一季度財報電話會議。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；和 Gartner 的首席財務官 Craig Safian，將有一個問答環節。請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

This call will include a discussion of first quarter 2023 financial results and Gartner's outlook for 2023, 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 2023 年第一季度的財務業績和 Gartner 對 2023 年的展望，如今天發佈在我們網站 investor.gartner.com 上的收益發布和收益補充中所披露的那樣。

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. Our contract values and associated growth rates we discuss are based on 2023 foreign exchange rates and exclude contributions related to the recent divestiture and the Russia exit. 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. Reconciliations for all non-GAAP numbers we use are available in the Investor Relations section of the gartner.com website.

在電話會議上，除非另有說明，否則所有提及的 EBITDA 都是針對調整後的 EBITDA，調整如我們的收益發布和補充中所述。我們討論的合同價值和相關增長率基於 2023 年的匯率，不包括與最近的資產剝離和俄羅斯退出相關的貢獻。除非另有說明，否則 Gene 評論中的所有增長率都是外匯中性的。除非另有說明，否則所有提及的股數均指完全稀釋後的加權平均股數。我們使用的所有非 GAAP 數字的調節可在 gartner.com 網站的投資者關係部分找到。

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 2022 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地闡述的那樣，在此次電話會議上所做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 2022 年 10-K 表年度報告和 10-Q 表季度報告以及其他提交給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, and thanks for joining us today. Gartner drove strong performance in the first quarter with double-digit growth in contract value, revenue, EBITDA and EPS.

早上好，感謝您今天加入我們。 Gartner 在第一季度推動了強勁的業績，合同價值、收入、EBITDA 和 EPS 均實現兩位數增長。

The rate of change and uncertainty in the world continues to accelerate. The tech sector is adjusting to post-pandemic demand. The banking industry is grappling with rising interest rates. Many industries have been impacted by rising inflation and war. Enterprise leaders and their teams need actionable, objective guidance. Gartner is the best source for the insights, tools and advice that makes the difference between success and failure for these leaders and the enterprises they serve.

世界變化和不確定性的速度繼續加快。科技行業正在適應大流行後的需求。銀行業正在努力應對不斷上升的利率。許多行業都受到通貨膨脹率上升和戰爭的影響。企業領導者及其團隊需要可操作的、客觀的指導。 Gartner 是洞察力、工具和建議的最佳來源，這些洞察力、工具和建議決定了這些領導者和他們所服務的企業的成敗。

We continue to be agile with the changing times. We're helping our clients make better decisions and achieve their mission-critical priorities, whether they're thriving, struggling or anywhere in between. Research continues to be our largest and the most profitable segment. We guide leaders across all major enterprise functions. Our market opportunity is vast across all sectors, sizes and geographies. And we're delivering more value than ever.

隨著時代的變化，我們繼續保持敏捷。我們正在幫助我們的客戶做出更好的決策並實現他們的關鍵任務優先事項，無論他們是在蓬勃發展、掙扎還是介於兩者之間。研究仍然是我們最大和最賺錢的部分。我們指導所有主要企業職能部門的領導者。我們的市場機會遍及所有行業、規模和地域。我們正在提供比以往更多的價值。

In the first quarter, we helped clients with a range of topics, including cybersecurity, data analytics, artificial intelligence, remote work, cost optimization and more. Research revenue grew 9%. Total contract value growth was 10%. Contract value growth was affected by slower-than-average growth with our technology vendor clients. This also affected the non-subscription portion of our Research business. End user contract value for both GTS and GBS continue to grow at strong double-digit rates.

第一季度，我們為客戶提供了一系列主題的幫助，包括網絡安全、數據分析、人工智能、遠程工作、成本優化等。研究收入增長了 9%。合同總價值增長了 10%。合同價值增長受到我們技術供應商客戶增長低於平均水平的影響。這也影響了我們研究業務的非訂閱部分。 GTS 和 GBS 的最終用戶合同價值繼續以兩位數的強勁速度增長。

We serve executives and their teams through 2 distinct sales channels. Global Technology Sales, or GTS, serves leaders and their teams within IT. GTS also serves leaders and technology vendors, including CEOs and product managers. GTS contract value grew 9%.

我們通過 2 個不同的銷售渠道為高管及其團隊提供服務。全球技術銷售 (Global Technology Sales, GTS) 為 IT 部門的領導者及其團隊提供服務。 GTS 還為領導者和技術供應商提供服務，包括 CEO 和產品經理。 GTS 合同價值增長了 9%。

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 16%. Through relentless execution of proven practices, we're able to deliver unparalleled value to our clients.

全球業務銷售 (GBS) 服務於 IT 以外的領導者及其團隊。這包括人力資源、供應鏈、財務、市場營銷、銷售、法律等。 GBS 合同價值增長了 16%。通過堅持不懈地執行經過驗證的實踐，我們能夠為客戶提供無與倫比的價值。

Clients continue to prioritize Gartner Research. Our business remains resilient despite a volatile and complicated external environment. Gartner Conferences deliver extraordinarily valuable insights to engaged and qualified audience. This will be the first full year of in-person conferences since 2019. We're off to a great start. Attendance is strong, advanced bookings are at record levels and feedback continues to be excellent.

客戶繼續優先考慮 Gartner Research。儘管外部環境動盪複雜，我們的業務仍然保持彈性。 Gartner 會議為參與和合格的觀眾提供非常有價值的見解。這將是自 2019 年以來第一個全年舉行的面對面會議。我們有了一個良好的開端。出席率很高，提前預訂達到創紀錄水平，反饋仍然很好。

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 IT research business. Consulting revenue grew 14% in the first quarter. Our business is fueled by our highly talented associates. We have carefully aligned our hiring with recent demand and our long-term opportunity. We are well positioned to drive long-term, sustained, double-digit growth.

Gartner 諮詢是 Gartner Research 的延伸。諮詢幫助客戶通過更深入、更廣泛、基於項目的工作來執行他們最具戰略意義的計劃。諮詢是我們 IT 研究業務的重要補充。第一季度諮詢收入增長了 14%。我們的業務是由我們才華橫溢的員工推動的。我們仔細調整了我們的招聘與近期需求和我們的長期機會。我們有能力推動長期、持續的兩位數增長。

We finished Q1 ahead of our expectations despite volatility in the global environment. We're increasing our outlook for 2023, while still allowing for a higher-than-normal level of uncertainty in the world. Craig will take you through our guidance in more detail.

儘管全球環境動盪不安，我們仍超預期完成了第一季度。我們提高了對 2023 年的展望，同時仍允許世界上存在高於正常水平的不確定性。 Craig 將帶您更詳細地了解我們的指南。

In closing, Gartner achieved another strong quarter of growth. We deliver unparalleled value to enterprise leaders and their teams across every major function, whether they're thriving, struggling or anywhere in between. We're exceptionally agile and continuously adapt to the changing world. And we know the right things to do to be successful in any environment.

最後，Gartner 實現了又一個強勁的季度增長。我們為企業領導者和他們的團隊在每個主要職能部門提供無與倫比的價值，無論他們是在蓬勃發展、苦苦掙扎還是介於兩者之間。我們異常敏捷，不斷適應不斷變化的世界。我們知道在任何環境下都應該做正確的事情才能取得成功。

Looking ahead, we are well positioned to continue our sustained record of success far into the future. We expect margins to increase modestly over time. And we generate significant free cash flow well in excess of net income. Even as we invest for future growth, we'll return significant levels of excess capital to our shareholders, which reduces shares outstanding and increases returns over time.

展望未來，我們已準備好在遙遠的未來繼續我們持續的成功記錄。我們預計利潤率會隨著時間的推移而適度增加。我們產生的自由現金流量遠遠超過淨收入。即使我們為未來增長進行投資，我們也會將大量過剩資本返還給我們的股東，這會減少已發行股票並隨著時間的推移增加回報。

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

有了這個，我會把電話交給我們的首席財務官克雷格薩菲安。

Thank you, Gene, and good morning.

謝謝你，吉恩，早上好。

First quarter results were strong with double-digit growth in contract value, revenue, EBITDA and adjusted EPS. FX-neutral growth was even stronger than our reported results. We also again delivered better-than-planned EBITDA margins. The upside reflected stronger Conferences and Consulting revenue and disciplined cost management. With results ahead of our expectations, we are increasing our 2023 guidance.

第一季度業績強勁，合同價值、收入、EBITDA 和調整後每股收益均實現兩位數增長。外匯中性增長甚至比我們報告的結果更強勁。我們還再次實現了好於計劃的 EBITDA 利潤率。上行反映了更強的會議和諮詢收入以及嚴格的成本管理。由於結果超出了我們的預期，我們正在增加 2023 年的指導。

First quarter revenue was $1.4 billion, up 12% year-over-year as reported and 14% FX neutral. In addition, total contribution margin was 69%, down 103 basis points versus the prior year. EBITDA was $379 million, up 15% year-over-year and up 19% FX neutral. Adjusted EPS was $2.88, up 24%. And free cash flow in the quarter was $144 million.

第一季度收入為 14 億美元，同比增長 12%，匯率中性增長 14%。此外，總邊際貢獻率為 69%，較上年下降 103 個基點。 EBITDA 為 3.79 億美元，同比增長 15%，增長 19%，外匯中性。調整後每股收益為 2.88 美元，增長 24%。本季度的自由現金流為 1.44 億美元。

We finished the quarter with 19,830 associates, up 15% from the prior year and 2% from the end of the fourth quarter. We are well positioned from a talent perspective with low levels of open territories and our new associates coming up the 10-year curve. And we will continue to carefully calibrate headcount and operating expenses based on near-term revenue growth and opportunities to invest for the future.

本季度結束時，我們擁有 19,830 名員工，比去年同期增長 15%，比第四季度末增長 2%。從人才的角度來看，我們處於有利地位，開放區域水平較低，我們的新員工將進入 10 年曲線。我們將繼續根據近期收入增長和未來投資機會仔細調整員工人數和運營費用。

Research revenue in the first quarter grew 7% year-over-year as reported and 9% on an FX-neutral basis. Subscription revenue grew 11%, FX neutral. First quarter Research contribution margin was 74%, down about 1 point, as we have caught up on hiring and returned to the new expected levels of travel.

據報告，第一季度的研究收入同比增長 7%，在外匯中性基礎上增長 9%。訂閱收入增長 11%，匯率中性。第一季度研究貢獻利潤率為 74%，下降了約 1 個百分點，因為我們已經趕上招聘並恢復到新的預期差旅水平。

Contract value or CV was $4.5 billion at the end of the first quarter, up 10% versus the prior year. The first quarter last year was one of our strongest Research quarters ever with outstanding performance on nearly every metric we provide.

第一季度末合同價值或 CV 為 45 億美元，比上年增長 10%。去年第一季度是我們有史以來最強勁的研究季度之一，我們提供的幾乎所有指標都表現出色。

CV growth is FX neutral and excludes both Russia and the recent divestiture. CV from enterprise function leaders across GTS and GBS grew at double-digit rates. CV from tech vendors grew mid-single digits compared to high-teens growth in the first quarter of 2022. Quarterly net contract value increase, or NCVI, was $26 million. As we've discussed in the past, there is notable seasonality in this metric.

CV 增長與外匯無關，不包括俄羅斯和最近的資產剝離。 GTS 和 GBS 企業職能領導者的簡歷以兩位數的速度增長。與 2022 年第一季度的高雙位數增長相比，技術供應商的 CV 增長了中等個位數。季度淨合同價值增長 (NCVI) 為 2600 萬美元。正如我們過去所討論的那樣，該指標具有顯著的季節性。

CV growth was broad-based across practices, industry sectors, company sizes and geographic regions. Across our combined practices, all industry sectors grew at double-digit rates other than technology and media, which both grew at mid-single-digit rates. The fastest growth was in the transportation, retail and public sectors. We had high single-digit growth across all of our enterprise-size categories. We also drove double-digit or high single-digit growth in all of our top 10 countries.

CV 增長的基礎廣泛，涉及實踐、行業部門、公司規模和地理區域。在我們的綜合實踐中，所有行業都以兩位數的速度增長，但技術和媒體除外，這兩個行業的增長率都在中等個位數的水平。增長最快的是交通、零售和公共部門。我們所有企業規模的類別都實現了高個位數的增長。我們還在所有排名前 10 的國家/地區推動了兩位數或高個位數的增長。

Global Technology Sales contract value was $3.5 billion at the end of the first quarter, up 9% versus the prior year. GTS had quarterly NCVI of $10 million. Wallet retention for GTS was 104% for the quarter, which compares to 107% in the prior year when we saw a record high for this metric.

第一季度末全球技術銷售合同價值為 35 億美元，比上年增長 9%。 GTS 的季度 NCVI 為 1000 萬美元。本季度 GTS 的錢包保留率為 104%，而去年我們看到該指標創歷史新高時為 107%。

While tech vendor wallet retention remained under pressure, on a net basis, our clients spent more with us compared to the prior year. GTS new business was down 1% versus last year. New business with IT function leaders increased compared to the prior year against a tough compare. New business with tech vendors declined versus very strong performance last year.

雖然技術供應商的錢包保留率仍然面臨壓力，但與去年相比，我們的客戶在我們這裡的淨支出更多。 GTS 新業務與去年相比下降了 1%。與上一年相比，與 IT 職能領導者相比，新業務有所增加。與去年非常強勁的表現相比，與技術供應商的新業務有所下降。

GTS quota-bearing headcount was up 22% year-over-year and 11% on a 2-year compound annual growth rate basis. We will continue to manage hiring based on both short-term performance and the medium-term opportunity. Our regular full set of GTS metrics can be found in the appendix of our earnings supplement.

GTS 配額人數同比增長 22%，按 2 年復合年增長率計算增長 11%。我們將繼續根據短期績效和中期機會來管理招聘。我們的常規全套 GTS 指標可以在我們的收入補充附錄中找到。

Global Business Sales contract value was $983 million at the end of the first quarter, up 16% year-over-year, which is at the high end of our medium-term outlook of 12% to 16%. All of our GBS practices, other than sales and marketing, grew at double-digit rates. Supply chain and HR both continued to grow faster than 20%. GBS CV increased $16 million from the fourth quarter.

第一季度末全球業務銷售合同價值為 9.83 億美元，同比增長 16%，處於我們 12% 至 16% 的中期展望的高端。除了銷售和營銷，我們所有的 GBS 實踐都以兩位數的速度增長。供應鍊和人力資源均繼續以超過 20% 的速度增長。 GBS CV 比第四季度增加了 1600 萬美元。

Wallet retention for GBS was 110% for the quarter, which compares to 115% in the prior year when we saw the highest-ever result for this metric. In addition to continued strong client retention, our clients spent significantly more with us than they did a year ago.

本季度 GBS 的錢包保留率為 110%，而去年我們看到該指標的最高結果時為 115%。除了持續保持強勁的客戶保留率外，我們的客戶在我們這裡的花費也比一年前多得多。

GBS new business was down 4% compared to last year against a very strong compare. The 2-year compound annual growth rate for new business was 6%. GBS quota-bearing headcount was up 18% year-over-year. This excludes headcount associated with the Q1 divestiture. As with GTS, our regular full set of GBS metrics can be found in the appendix of our earnings supplement.

GBS 新業務與去年相比下降了 4%，相比之下非常強勁。新業務2年復合年增長率為6%。 GBS 配額承擔人數同比增長 18%。這不包括與第一季度資產剝離相關的員工人數。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 first quarter was $65 million, ahead of our expectations as we saw strong performance with both exhibitors and attendees. The first quarter is always a seasonally small quarter, but we are off to a strong start for the year. Contribution margin in the quarter was 41%, consistent with typical seasonality. We held 10 destination conferences in the quarter, all in person.

第一季度的會議收入為 6500 萬美元，超出了我們的預期，因為我們看到參展商和與會者都表現強勁。第一季度總是一個季節性的小季度，但我們今年開局強勁。本季度的貢獻率為 41%，與典型的季節性一致。我們在本季度舉行了 10 場目的地會議，全部都是面對面的。

First quarter Consulting revenues increased by 10% year-over-year to $127 million. On an FX-neutral basis, revenues were up 14%. Consulting contribution margin was 40% in the first quarter, consistent with the incremental hiring and return to travel. Labor-based revenues were $97 million, up 1% versus Q1 of last year and up 5% on an FX-neutral basis. Backlog at March 31 was $161 million, increasing 14% year-over-year on an FX-neutral basis with continued booking strength.

第一季度諮詢收入同比增長 10% 至 1.27 億美元。在外匯中性的基礎上，收入增長了 14%。第一季度的諮詢貢獻利潤率為 40%，與增加的招聘和回歸旅行一致。基於勞動力的收入為 9700 萬美元，比去年第一季度增長 1%，在外匯中性基礎上增長 5%。 3 月 31 日的積壓訂單為 1.61 億美元，在外匯中性基礎上同比增長 14%，預訂量持續強勁。

Our contract optimization business had another very strong quarter, up 53% as reported and 56% 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又迎來了一個非常強勁的季度，與去年同期相比增長了 53%，在外匯中性基礎上增長了 56%。正如我們過去詳述的那樣，諮詢部門的這一部分變化很大。

Consolidated cost of services increased 15% year-over-year in the first quarter as reported and 17% on an FX-neutral basis. The biggest driver of the increase was higher headcount to support our continued strong growth. We also saw an increase in cost year-over-year with a return to in-person conferences.

據報導，第一季度綜合服務成本同比增長 15%，在外匯中性基礎上增長 17%。增長的最大驅動力是增加員工人數以支持我們持續強勁的增長。隨著面對面會議的恢復，我們還看到成本同比增加。

SG&A increased 6% year-over-year in the first quarter as reported and 9% on an FX-neutral basis. SG&A increased in the quarter as a result of headcount growth. This increase was partially offset by lower charges associated with real estate rationalization.

據報導，第一季度 SG&A 同比增長 6%，在外匯中性基礎上增長 9%。由於員工人數增長，本季度 SG&A 有所增加。這一增長部分被與房地產合理化相關的較低費用所抵消。

EBITDA for the first quarter was $379 million, up 15% year-over-year on a reported basis and up 19% FX neutral. First quarter EBITDA upside to our guidance reflected revenue exceeding our expectations in Conferences and Consulting and prudent expense planning. Depreciation in the quarter of $24 million was up modestly compared to 2022.

第一季度的 EBITDA 為 3.79 億美元，按報告基礎同比增長 15%，增長 19%，外匯中性。我們指導的第一季度 EBITDA 上行反映了收入超過我們在會議和諮詢方面的預期以及審慎的費用計劃。與 2022 年相比，本季度的折舊為 2400 萬美元，略有上升。

Net interest expense, excluding deferred financing costs, in the quarter was $26 million, down $4 million versus the first quarter of 2022, resulting from higher interest income on our cash balances. 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 2600 萬美元，比 2022 年第一季度減少 400 萬美元，這是由於我們現金餘額的利息收入增加所致。我們擁有的適度浮動利率債務在到期前已完全對沖。

The Q1 adjusted tax rate, which we use for the calculation of adjusted net income, was 18% for the quarter. The tax rate for the items used to adjust net income was 35% for the quarter.

我們用於計算調整後淨收入的第一季度調整後稅率為 18%。本季度用於調整淨收入的項目稅率為 35%。

Adjusted EPS in Q1 was $2.88, up 24% year-over-year. We had 80 million shares outstanding in the first quarter. This is a reduction of close to 3 million shares or about 3% year-over-year. We exited the first quarter with about 80 million shares on an unweighted basis.

第一季度調整後每股收益為 2.88 美元，同比增長 24%。第一季度我們有 8000 萬股流通股。這減少了近 300 萬股，同比減少約 3%。我們在第一季度以未加權的方式退出了約 8000 萬股。

Operating cash flow for the quarter was $165 million, down 2% compared to last year. CapEx for the quarter was $21 million, up 22% year-over-year as a result of an increase in technology modernization investments and equipment for new associates.

本季度的經營現金流為 1.65 億美元，比去年下降 2%。本季度的資本支出為 2100 萬美元，同比增長 22%，這是由於技術現代化投資和新員工設備的增加。

Free cash flow for the quarter was $144 million. Free cash flow as a percent of revenue on a rolling 4-quarter basis was 18% of revenue and 65% of EBITDA. Adjusted for the after-tax impact of the divestiture and interest rate swap gains, free cash flow conversion from GAAP net income was 120%. Our free cash flow conversion is generally higher when CV growth is accelerating.

本季度的自由現金流為 1.44 億美元。自由現金流佔收入的百分比在滾動的 4 季度基礎上為收入的 18% 和 EBITDA 的 65%。根據資產剝離和利率互換收益的稅後影響進行調整後，從 GAAP 淨收入轉換而來的自由現金流為 120%。當 CV 增長加速時，我們的自由現金流轉換通常更高。

At the end of the first quarter, we had $894 million of cash. Our March 31 debt balance was $2.5 billion. Our reported gross debt to trailing 12-month EBITDA was under 2x. Our expected free cash flow generation, available revolver and excess cash remaining on the balance sheet provides ample liquidity to deliver on our capital allocation strategy of share repurchases and strategic tuck-in M&A.

第一季度末，我們擁有 8.94 億美元的現金。我們 3 月 31 日的債務餘額為 25 億美元。我們報告的總債務與過去 12 個月的 EBITDA 之比低於 2 倍。我們預期的自由現金流產生、可用循環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配置戰略。

Our balance sheet is very strong with $1.9 billion of liquidity, low levels of leverage and effectively fixed interest rates. We repurchased more than $100 million of stock during the first quarter. We had about $950 million remaining on our share repurchase authorization at March 31. As we continue to repurchase shares, 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.

我們的資產負債表非常強勁，擁有 19 億美元的流動性、低杠桿水平和有效的固定利率。我們在第一季度回購了超過 1 億美元的股票。截至 3 月 31 日，我們的股票回購授權剩餘約 9.5 億美元。隨著我們繼續回購股票，我們的資本基礎將縮小。這會增加每股收益，並與不斷增長的利潤相結合，隨著時間的推移也會增加投資資本的回報。

We are increasing our full year guidance to reflect the strong Q1 performance while still allowing for a higher-than-normal level of uncertainty in the world. As we move through the year, we have more visibility into the revenue outlook and the corresponding expenses needed to support the business and drive growth.

我們正在增加全年指導以反映第一季度的強勁表現，同時仍然允許世界上高於正常水平的不確定性。隨著這一年的推移，我們對收入前景以及支持業務和推動增長所需的相應支出有了更多的了解。

For Research, we continue to innovate and provide a very compelling value proposition for clients and prospects. Our plan for 2023 allows for a higher-than-normal range of outcomes, as we discussed last quarter. We've got tough compares across the business and particularly with tech vendors and in GBS for another quarter or 2. We've taken a prudent approach based on historical trends, which we've reflected in the guidance.

對於研究，我們不斷創新並為客戶和潛在客戶提供極具吸引力的價值主張。正如我們上個季度所討論的那樣，我們 2023 年的計劃允許實現高於正常範圍的結果。我們在整個業務中進行了艱難的比較，特別是與技術供應商和 GBS 的另一個季度或兩個季度。我們根據歷史趨勢採取了謹慎的方法，我們已經在指南中反映了這一點。

We expect stronger growth from the subscription business than the non-subscription part of the segment. The non-subscription part of the business faces tough compares and has more direct exposure to tech vendor spending. The outlook continues to be based on 100% of our 47 destination conferences for 2023 running in-person. There is seasonality to the business based on the conferences calendar, which is different than the historical pattern. We expect Q4 to be the largest quarter and Q3 to be the smallest of the year.

我們預計訂閱業務的增長將強於該細分市場的非訂閱部分。該業務的非訂閱部分面臨艱難的比較，並且更直接地暴露於技術供應商的支出。前景繼續基於我們 2023 年 47 個目的地會議中 100% 的現場會議。基於會議日曆的業務具有季節性，這與歷史模式不同。我們預計第四季度將是今年最大的季度，而第三季度將是今年最小的季度。

For Consulting revenues, we have more visibility into the second quarter than the second half based on the composition of our backlog and pipeline as usual. Contract optimization remains highly variable. We had a very strong year in 2022, especially in contract optimization in the fourth quarter.

對於諮詢收入，根據我們像往常一樣積壓和管道的構成，我們對第二季度的了解比下半年更多。合同優化仍然高度可變。我們在 2022 年表現強勁，尤其是在第四季度的合同優化方面。

With Q1 behind us, we are comfortable we can run the business successfully for this year while investing for future growth with lower consolidated expenses than we built into the original guidance. We will continue both to manage expenses prudently to support future growth and deliver strong margins.

隨著第一季度的結束，我們很高興我們可以在今年成功地經營業務，同時以低於我們最初指導的綜合支出為未來增長進行投資。我們將繼續審慎地管理費用，以支持未來的增長並實現強勁的利潤率。

Our updated guidance for 2023 is as follows: we expect Research revenue of at least $4.925 billion, which is FX-neutral growth of about 7% or 8% excluding the Q1 divestiture. Research revenue guidance is up modestly from February. We expect Conferences revenue of at least $470 million, which is growth of about 21%. We have increased our outlook for Conferences by $25 million.

我們對 2023 年的最新指導如下：我們預計研究收入至少為 49.25 億美元，這與外匯中性增長約 7% 或 8%，不包括第一季度資產剝離。研究收入指引較 2 月份小幅上升。我們預計會議收入至少為 4.7 億美元，增長率約為 21%。我們將會議的前景增加了 2500 萬美元。

We expect Consulting revenue of at least $505 million, which is a growth of about 5% FX neutral and a modest increase from February. The result is an outlook for consolidated revenue of at least $5.90 billion, which is FX-neutral growth of 8%. Overall, we've increased our revenue outlook by $35 million.

我們預計諮詢收入至少為 5.05 億美元，與 2 月份相比增長約 5%，與 2 月份相比增長溫和。結果是綜合收入前景至少為 59 億美元，在匯率中性的情況下增長 8%。總體而言，我們將收入預期提高了 3500 萬美元。

As I mentioned in the last quarter, we've taken a prudent approach to planning for 2023. This applies to revenue, operating expenses and free cash flow. We now expect full year EBITDA of at least $1.33 billion, up $70 million from our prior guidance and an increase in our margin outlook as well. We expect to be able to deliver on our margin guidance in most economic scenarios. If revenue is stronger than our outlook, we expect upside to EBITDA.

正如我在上個季度提到的，我們對 2023 年的規劃採取了審慎的方法。這適用於收入、運營支出和自由現金流。我們現在預計全年 EBITDA 至少為 13.3 億美元，比我們之前的指導高出 7000 萬美元，我們的利潤率前景也有所增加。我們希望能夠在大多數經濟情景中實現我們的保證金指導。如果收入強於我們的預期，我們預計 EBITDA 會有上行空間。

We now expect 2023 adjusted EPS of at least $9.50. For 2023, we still expect free cash flow of at least $920 million. This reflects the conversion from GAAP net income of almost 140% excluding the after-tax divestiture proceeds. Our guidance is based on 80 million fully diluted weighted average shares outstanding, which reflects the repurchases made through the end of March. Finally, for the second quarter of 2023, we expect EBITDA of at least $350 million.

我們現在預計 2023 年調整後每股收益至少為 9.50 美元。到 2023 年，我們仍預計自由現金流至少為 9.2 億美元。這反映了幾乎 140% 的 GAAP 淨收入的轉換，不包括稅後資產剝離收益。我們的指引基於 8000 萬股完全稀釋的加權平均流通股，這反映了截至 3 月底的回購情況。最後，我們預計 2023 年第二季度的 EBITDA 至少為 3.5 億美元。

We had a strong start to the year despite continuing global macro uncertainty with notable performance in Conferences and overall profitability. Contract value grew double digits. EPS grew more than 20%. We repurchased over $100 million of stock during the first quarter and remain committed to returning excess capital to our shareholders. Combining our expected free cash flow generation with the after-tax proceeds of our recent divestiture, we have more than $1 billion available to deploy on behalf of our shareholders in 2023.

儘管全球宏觀不確定性持續存在，但我們在會議和整體盈利能力方面取得了顯著表現，但今年開局良好。合同價值增長了兩位數。每股收益增長超過 20%。我們在第一季度回購了超過 1 億美元的股票，並繼續致力於將多餘的資本返還給我們的股東。將我們預期的自由現金流產生與我們最近資產剝離的稅後收益相結合，我們有超過 10 億美元可用於代表我們的股東在 2023 年進行部署。

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 over time 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 lower the share count over time and on strategic value-enhancing tuck-in M&A.

展望中期，我們的財務模型和預期沒有改變。憑藉 12% 至 16% 的 Research CV 增長，我們將實現兩位數的收入增長。隨著毛利率的擴大、銷售成本隨著時間的推移與 CV 和 G&A 槓桿率保持一致增長，我們可以適度擴大利潤率。由於我們適度的資本支出需求以及客戶預付給我們的好處，我們可以至少與 EBITDA 一樣快地增長自由現金流。我們將繼續將資金用於股票回購，這會隨著時間的推移減少股票數量，以及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?

這樣，我會將電話轉回接線員，我們很樂意回答您的問題。操作員？

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

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

So I thought CV was good considering the macro and the comp. I know that you said comps are still tough another quarter or 2. I don't know what macro is going to do later in the year. But it sounds like the relative weakness is still just concentrated in the tech vendor channel.

所以我認為 CV 考慮到宏觀和 comp 很好。我知道你說 comps 在另一個季度或 2 個季度仍然很艱難。我不知道今年晚些時候宏會做什麼。但聽起來相對弱點仍然只集中在技術供應商渠道。

So I guess, as you look at retention trends on business that's coming up for renewal on a quarterly basis or new business sold trends in a quarter on a seasonally adjusted sequential basis, I guess the question is, have those metrics kind of stabilized after stepping down concentrated in the tech vendor channel last year? Or have you seen any sort of incremental weakening, including with the recent banking sector challenges and any derivative effects from it?

所以我想，當您查看每季度即將更新的業務的保留趨勢或季節性調整後的季度新業務銷售趨勢時，我想問題是，這些指標在步進後是否穩定去年下降集中在技術供應商渠道？或者您是否看到任何形式的逐漸減弱，包括最近銀行業的挑戰以及由此產生的任何衍生效應？

Jeff, it's Gene. I think you characterized it right, which is the 2 biggest factors going on are the year-over-year comparison is very tough because it's such a strong quarter a year ago; and then the whole tech industry is realigning, and that's impacting the business, just as you described. And there are smaller things going on, but those are the big things that are going on impacting our business.

傑夫，是吉恩。我認為你的描述是正確的，這是兩個最大的因素，一個是同比比較非常困難，因為一年前這個季度非常強勁；然後整個科技行業正在重新調整，這正在影響業務，就像你描述的那樣。還有一些小事正在發生，但這些都是正在影響我們業務的大事。

Okay. But are those smaller things including like the banking challenges? Are they causing incremental deterioration? Or is that not a meaningful factor for you?

好的。但是那些較小的事情包括像銀行業的挑戰嗎？它們是否導致逐漸惡化？或者這對你來說不是一個有意義的因素？

Yes, I don't think it's -- I'd characterize it as small as opposed to meaningful. So clearly, we're selling less to Silicon Valley Bank or Republic, but that's pretty isolated. And so we have isolated things like that, that are going on at the regional banks, some countries like China, but there's always things like that going on. There's always things in particular [areas] or segments that are not perfect.

是的，我不認為它是——我認為它很小而不是有意義。很明顯，我們向矽谷銀行或 Republic 的銷售量減少了，但那是相當孤立的。因此，我們孤立了類似的事情，這些事情正在區域性銀行中發生，一些國家如中國，但總是有這樣的事情發生。總有一些特定的[領域]或部分並不完美。

Got it. Good to hear. And then I just love the -- your perspective, Gene on, I guess, the opportunities and risks from generative AI, including anything on how far along you are with implementing it. And to me, I could see potential benefits on a number of fronts, sales productivity, research productivity, I guess improving the client experience on your platform given the high-quality content library, as well as you mentioned among the hot topic areas that could drive demand and client engagement. Also curious just on how you think about any potential risks that publicly available content becomes a lot easier to curate via generative AI.

知道了。很高興聽到。然後我很喜歡——你的觀點，Gene on，我猜，生成人工智能帶來的機遇和風險，包括關於你在實施它方面走了多遠的任何事情。對我來說，我可以在許多方面看到潛在的好處，銷售生產力，研究生產力，我想在提供高質量內容庫的情況下改善您平台上的客戶體驗，以及您提到的熱門話題領域可能推動需求和客戶參與。同樣好奇的是，您如何看待公開可用內容通過生成式 AI 變得更容易管理的任何潛在風險。

Yes. So we see generative AI as being really helpful for our business. As you said, there are a lot of internal efficiencies where we've had, 5 years ago, we had teams of humans combing through publicly available information. Now we actually, today, use generative AI to improve our efficiency on those kinds of things, and we'll continue to.

是的。因此，我們認為生成式 AI 對我們的業務非常有幫助。正如您所說，在 5 年前，我們有很多內部效率，我們有人類團隊梳理公開可用的信息。現在我們實際上，今天，使用生成人工智能來提高我們在這些事情上的效率，我們將繼續這樣做。

The second area is that we are testing, and I'm sure we'll get to at some point, is having more of a natural language interface for our clients. And we're testing now just to make sure it all works correctly and it doesn't have any surprises as you've seen in some of the public situations.

第二個方面是我們正在測試，我相信我們會在某個時候達到，為我們的客戶提供更多的自然語言界面。我們現在正在進行測試，以確保它一切正常，並且不會像您在某些公共場合看到的那樣出現任何意外。

And so I'd say, first of all, it's great for internal efficiencies in every part of our business. Even like, you mentioned, if a salesperson wants to get synthesized publicly available information, it's a great tool to help with that. It's going to be -- so it will help our internal efficiencies. It will provide a better interface over time with our clients. And then, frankly, it's an area where clients seek help on as well. And so that's an area that helps with our basic client demand as well.

所以我想說，首先，這對我們業務各個部分的內部效率都非常有用。甚至就像您提到的那樣，如果銷售人員想要獲得合成的公開可用信息，它是一個很好的工具來幫助實現這一目標。這將是——所以這將有助於我們的內部效率。隨著時間的推移，它將為我們的客戶提供更好的界面。然後，坦率地說，這也是客戶尋求幫助的領域。因此，這也是一個有助於滿足我們基本客戶需求的領域。

You asked about kind of our situation competitively there. I'd say we're highly differentiated from kind of the public information you get because we have a lot of proprietary information, proprietary insights. We have a research process, which is quite important in generating these proprietary insights. And of course, we're independent and objective. So we say generative AI has really been a lot of help both with internal efficiencies with probably a better interface with our clients, helping clients with it, et cetera.

您詢問了我們在那裡的競爭情況。我會說我們與您獲得的公共信息高度不同，因為我們有很多專有信息和專有見解。我們有一個研究過程，這對於產生這些專有見解非常重要。當然，我們是獨立和客觀的。所以我們說生成式人工智能確實在內部效率方面提供了很多幫助，可能與我們的客戶有更好的接口，幫助客戶等等。

Appreciate the comprehensive answer.

感謝全面的答案。

We have a question from Heather Balsky from Bank of America.

美國銀行的 Heather Balsky 向我們提出了一個問題。

Can you help us think about the cadence of CV as we move through the year, both taking into account the sort of environment right now, especially with your tech vendors as well as just sort of comparisons year-over-year? Just curious kind of do you expect that to kind of soften as the year progresses? An improvement to the fourth quarter? Just what's baked into your sales outlook?

您能否幫助我們考慮一下 CV 在這一年中的節奏，既要考慮到目前的環境，尤其是與您的技術供應商的關係，又要考慮與去年同期相比的情況？只是好奇，您是否希望隨著時間的推移這種情況會有所緩和？第四季度有所改善？您的銷售前景中包含了什麼？

Heather, this is Craig. Great question. So as we think about the way the business rolls, I guess just zooming back a little bit, a couple of points just around historically how things look. So we typically generate a least amount of new business dollars in the first quarter of the year and our most amount of new business dollars in the fourth quarter of the year.

希瑟，這是克雷格。很好的問題。因此，當我們考慮業務發展的方式時，我想只是稍微回顧一下，從歷史上看有幾點。因此，我們通常在今年第一季度產生最少的新業務收入，而在第四季度產生最多的新業務收入。

And there's a lot of reasons for that. We work through our pipeline in the fourth quarter. We've got a lot of conferences that we leverage in the fourth quarter. We make a lot of promotions and changes to positions in the first quarter. But first quarter, generally, lowest amount of new business; fourth quarter, a lot more new business, and that sort of builds over the quarters.

這有很多原因。我們在第四季度完成我們的管道。我們在第四季度利用了很多會議。我們在第一季度進行了大量的晉升和職位變動。但總體而言，第一季度的新業務量最低；第四季度，有更多的新業務，而且這些業務在各個季度都有所增加。

In terms of the way the CV flows, first quarter and fourth quarter tend to be a little bit more heavily weighted in terms of the amount of CV that is expiring. It can vary a lot. Our sales teams will also often pull forward business as they see opportunities. But Q1 and Q4 are typically our highest expiration quarters.

就 CV 的流動方式而言，第一季度和第四季度在到期 CV 數量方面的權重往往更大一些。它可以有很大的不同。我們的銷售團隊也會經常在看到機會時推動業務發展。但第一季度和第四季度通常是我們最高的到期季度。

In terms of the comps and the comparisons, I think if you look back, Q1 of 2022, on just about every measure you can look at, was the peak and/or the toughest comparison for us, whether it's overall contract value growth, wallet retention, productivity, you name it. The comparisons are still pretty tough through Q2 and Q3, most notably with our tech vendor clients and with GBS.

就比較和比較而言，我認為如果你回顧一下，2022 年第一季度，幾乎所有你能看到的指標，對我們來說都是高峰和/或最艱難的比較，無論是整體合同價值增長，錢包留存率、生產力，應有盡有。在第二季度和第三季度，比較仍然非常艱難，尤其是與我們的技術供應商客戶和 GBS。

So Q1, I'd say, was a tough comparison across the board, across the entire Research business, again, most notably with tech vendors and with GBS. Q2 is still, again, if you go back and look at the metrics in CV growth, et cetera, still a very tough comparison there as well. The comparisons do ease a little bit, but it's still a pretty high comparison point even as we get into the second half of the year.

因此，我想說，第一季度是對整個研究業務的全面比較，尤其是與技術供應商和 GBS 的比較。如果你回頭看看 CV 增長等指標，第二季度仍然是一個非常艱難的比較。比較確實有所緩和，但即使我們進入下半年，它仍然是一個相當高的比較點。

Again, if you think about our normal cadence, we'll be building our new business pipelines and building our new business dollars over the course of the year. We've got a full slate of in-person conferences as well. And as Gene mentioned, our clients and potential clients really need our help as well. So we're focused on making sure we deliver great value to our clients, to drive those renewal rates and also work all our opportunities through the pipeline as well, so we can deliver the new business that we need to deliver as well.

同樣，如果您考慮我們的正常節奏，我們將在這一年中建立新的業務管道並建立新的業務收入。我們也有完整的面對面會議。正如 Gene 所提到的，我們的客戶和潛在客戶也確實需要我們的幫助。因此，我們專注於確保我們為客戶提供巨大的價值，以推動這些續訂率，並通過渠道利用我們所有的機會，因此我們也可以提供我們需要提供的新業務。

I appreciate that. And as my follow-up, in an environment like we're seeing right now, whether it's the tech industry realigning, what's going on at banks, from both a GBS and GTS perspective, what are you doing on the Research side to stay engaged with customers, keeping them active Gartner customers, hopefully keeping that retention strong?

我很感激。作為我的後續行動，在我們現在看到的環境中，無論是科技行業的重組，銀行正在發生的事情，從 GBS 和 GTS 的角度來看，你在研究方面做了什麼來保持參與與客戶一起，讓他們保持活躍的 Gartner 客戶，希望保持這種保留？

Yes, it's a great question. So we're always focused on research on the things that are most important to our clients. If you think about today, it would be things like cybersecurity. There are a few enterprises today that can't let their guard down with cybersecurity. We're the only help they can get. So that's an area that we're really focused on.

是的，這是一個很好的問題。因此，我們始終專注於研究對我們的客戶最重要的事情。如果您考慮今天，那就是網絡安全之類的事情。今天有一些企業不能放鬆對網絡安全的警惕。我們是他們唯一能得到的幫助。所以這是我們真正關注的領域。

The other one is using data analytics in their business. The other one is cost optimization, making sure they understand how to optimize the cost that they do have in a little tough environment perhaps. We still see a lot of demand on conversion digital business. We also see a lot of demand on things like optimizing cloud computing. So those are some examples.

另一個是在他們的業務中使用數據分析。另一個是成本優化，確保他們了解如何優化他們在稍微艱難的環境中確實擁有的成本。我們仍然看到對轉換數字業務的大量需求。我們還看到對優化雲計算等方面的大量需求。這些是一些例子。

But the way we're focusing on research is making sure our research is focused on the really tough issues that senior leaders and our clients have to wrestle with, which these are some of the examples. And those issues are really important. Even for organizations that are struggling, you're still going to deal with things like cybersecurity and data analytics, optimizing cloud computing. And so it's something that applies whether clients are struggling or whether they're thriving.

但是我們專注於研究的方式是確保我們的研究專注於高級領導者和我們的客戶必須努力解決的真正棘手的問題，這些是一些例子。這些問題真的很重要。即使對於正在苦苦掙扎的組織，您仍然需要處理網絡安全和數據分析、優化雲計算等問題。因此，無論客戶是在苦苦掙扎還是在蓬勃發展，它都適用。

We have a question from Toni Kaplan with Morgan Stanley.

摩根士丹利的 Toni Kaplan 提出了一個問題。

Wanted to ask about GBS. I know you mentioned in the prepared remarks that all of the areas grew double digits, except for sales and marketing. Can you just give maybe a little bit of color on what slowed there, anything you're seeing? Or is that just a -- maybe it's a tough comp? Or I'm sure each quarter, some are more positive and some are more negative. So is it sort of normal or anything to call out there?

想問問GBS。我知道你在準備好的評論中提到，除了銷售和營銷之外，所有領域都實現了兩位數的增長。你能不能給那裡放慢速度的東西一點點顏色，你看到的任何東西？或者這只是一個 - 也許這是一個艱難的比賽？或者我確定每個季度，有些更積極，有些更消極。那麼在那裡打電話是正常的還是什麼？

Yes. Toni, it's a great question. So if you look at in any business, there's always some units that are doing very well because they have all the pieces that are working well together. There's other units that aren't working quite as well. And that's what's gone in sales and marketing is it's more operational, and kind of our own operational effectiveness isn't as good as in some of the other GBS functions.

是的。托尼，這是一個很好的問題。因此，如果你觀察任何企業，總會有一些部門做得很好，因為它們的所有部分都能很好地協同工作。還有其他單位運作不佳。這就是銷售和營銷方面的不足之處，它更具操作性，而且我們自己的運營效率不如其他一些 GBS 功能。

But there's nothing sort of intrinsic. There's nothing in the marketplace or something like that. It's all about making sure that we have all the pieces really working together well. It still had great growth, but it's not as great. The GBS growth is really extremely strong, and they were just kind of not as strong as the strongest parts of GBS.

但是沒有什麼是內在的。市場上沒有任何東西或類似的東西。這一切都是為了確保我們所有的部分都能很好地協同工作。它仍然有很大的增長，但沒有那麼大了。 GBS 的增長真的非常強勁，只是有點不如 GBS 最強的部分。

Great. I wanted to also ask about the retention of salespeople. I imagine it's a lot better now than it was in recent history when we had the sort of tighter labor market. I guess, how are you thinking about that with regard to maturity of salespeople? Could that have upside potential for the guide this year? And maybe talk about sort of if we should see productivity improvement as a result?

偉大的。我還想問一下銷售人員的保留問題。我想現在的情況比近代歷史上我們的勞動力市場更為緊張時要好得多。我想，您如何看待銷售人員的成熟度？這對今年的指南有上升潛力嗎？也許可以談談我們是否應該因此而看到生產力的提高？

Yes, Toni, it's a great question. And salespeople are critical to our business to both current business and future growth. We got behind in hiring over the last couple of years. We're now fully caught up, which is fantastic. We have very low number of open positions, and our turnover is among the lowest we've ever seen with our salespeople.

是的，托尼，這是一個很好的問題。銷售人員對我們的業務對當前業務和未來增長都至關重要。在過去的幾年裡，我們在招聘方面落後了。我們現在完全趕上了，這太棒了。我們的空缺職位數量非常少，我們的營業額是我們見過的銷售人員中最低的。

It takes our salespeople about 3 years to get to full productivity. So all these salespeople that we've added recently, if you think about it, are really going to be powering the growth of business in 2024 and 2025 when they get up to full productivity as we see this lower retention rate -- I'm sorry, higher retention, lower turnover rate as being really advantageous to the business.

我們的銷售人員需要大約 3 年的時間才能充分發揮生產力。因此，如果您考慮一下，我們最近添加的所有這些銷售人員將真正推動業務在 2024 年和 2025 年的增長，因為我們看到較低的保留率——我是抱歉，更高的留存率、更低的離職率對業務真正有利。

The other thing is that as we do have hiring needs, either from turnover or from growth, the market for us hiring salespeople is fantastic. We can get really fantastic salespeople. And we always see great salespeople, but it's one of the best markets for hiring for us we've ever seen.

另一件事是，由於我們確實有招聘需求，無論是營業額還是增長，我們招聘銷售人員的市場都非常好。我們可以獲得非常出色的銷售人員。我們總能看到優秀的銷售人員，但這是我們見過的最適合我們招聘的市場之一。

And our next question will come from Seth Weber with Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題將來自富國銀行的 Seth Weber。

I wanted to ask you about the raised EBITDA margin outlook for the year. Is that just a function of higher revenue flowing through? Or is there something else that you feel like has changed there relative to how you were thinking about the business last quarter?

我想問你有關今年提高的 EBITDA 利潤率前景的問題。這僅僅是流經的更高收入的函數嗎？或者，相對於上個季度您對業務的看法，您是否覺得那裡發生了其他變化？

Seth, so the -- if you look at the outlook raise based on the Q1 performance and based on the -- our outlook for the balance of the year, we took revenue up by $35 million, most notably in Conferences, and we reduced our OpEx expense outlook by about $35 million. And that's what drove the $70 million increase in the overall EBITDA outlook.

賽斯，所以——如果你根據第一季度的表現和我們對今年餘下時間的展望來看提高的前景，我們的收入增加了 3500 萬美元，尤其是在會議方面，我們減少了我們的收入運營支出支出前景約為 3500 萬美元。這就是推動整體 EBITDA 前景增加 7000 萬美元的原因。

I'd say we are still dealing with a pretty uncertain macro environment, as we've all talked about. We took a pretty prudent approach to, in particular, planning our operating expenses as we entered the year. And now that we've got 3 or 4 months behind us and have a better outlook for what the top line is going to look like for the full year, we were able to refine the expenses a bit.

我想說的是，正如我們都談到的那樣，我們仍在應對一個非常不確定的宏觀環境。我們採取了非常審慎的方法，特別是在我們進入這一年時計劃我們的運營費用。現在我們已經落後了 3 或 4 個月，並且對全年的頂線情況有了更好的展望，我們能夠稍微改進支出。

And so again, that's why we're able to raise the revenue by $35 million and reduce the OpEx outlook by $35 million as well. And again, the math on that yielded margins a little bit higher than we had initially guided to.

因此，這就是為什麼我們能夠將收入提高 3500 萬美元並將 OpEx 前景降低 3500 萬美元的原因。再一次，數學計算得出的利潤率比我們最初指導的要高一點。

Right. That makes sense. And then maybe just on the maintained free cash flow outlook, anything you'd call out there? I seem to remember, over the last couple of quarters, there were some pickups with collections and things like that. Is there anything notable that you'd cite for not raising the free cash flow guide?

正確的。這就說得通了。然後也許只是關於維持的自由現金流前景，你會在那裡打電話嗎？我似乎記得，在過去的幾個季度裡，有一些帶有收藏品的皮卡和類似的東西。沒有提高自由現金流量指南，您有什麼值得注意的地方嗎？

Yes, it's a good call-out. So I think stepping back for a second, the free cash flow is still a very large number. The conversion numbers look very strong as well, both on a rolling 4-quarter basis and as we extrapolated out of the forecast. The main thing there, though, is we would have been able to raise our free cash outlook if not for an additional cash tax burden that we calculated associated with the divestiture.

是的，這是一個很好的呼喚。所以我認為退一步說，自由現金流仍然是一個非常大的數字。轉換數字看起來也非常強勁，無論是連續第 4 季度還是我們從預測中推斷出來的。不過，最主要的是，如果不是因為我們計算出的與資產剝離相關的額外現金稅負，我們本可以提高我們的自由現金前景。

So we had a very strong profit year last year, which results in more cash taxes this year, which was baked into the initial guidance. We sold a small noncore business in February and got proceeds from that. Our initial guide didn't dial in enough cash taxes associated with the divestiture. And so the main thing here is free cash flow, still really, really strong, would have raised, but for an additional cash tax burden associated with our recent divestiture.

所以我們去年的利潤非常強勁，這導致今年有更多的現金稅，這已經納入了最初的指導方針。我們在 2 月份出售了一家小型非核心業務，並從中獲得了收益。我們最初的指南沒有撥入與資產剝離相關的足夠現金稅。因此，這裡最主要的是自由現金流，如果沒有與我們最近的資產剝離相關的額外現金稅負擔，它仍然非常非常強勁。

Andrew Nicholas from William Blair.

來自威廉布萊爾的安德魯尼古拉斯。

I wanted to follow up on a few of the earlier questions to start. First, I guess, Craig, on the margins, could you spend a bit of time talking on first quarter upside or where some of that upside came from on the cost side?

我想先跟進幾個較早的問題。首先，克雷格，我想，在利潤率方面，你能否花一點時間談談第一季度的上行空間，或者其中一些上行空間來自成本方面？

And then understanding the EBITDA guidance bridge or the change versus last quarter, it still seems like there's a pretty significant ramp-up in implied expenses through the remainder of the year. If you could just give a little bit more color on that. I was under the impression that second half hiring activity was now in the run rate. So just trying to figure out where else the increased expense comes from over the next couple of quarters.

然後了解 EBITDA 指導橋樑或與上一季度相比的變化，在今年剩餘時間裡，隱含費用似乎仍然有相當大的增加。如果你能給它多一點顏色。我的印像是下半年的招聘活動現在處於正常運行狀態。所以只是想弄清楚接下來幾個季度增加的費用來自哪裡。

Yes, absolutely, Andrew. Thanks for the question. In terms of Q1, I'd say it's a combination of modest revenue be -- most notably in Conferences, but a little bit in Consulting as well, and prudent expense planning in the quarter. So I think that's the way I would describe the Q1 margin performance.

是的，當然，安德魯。謝謝你的問題。就第一季度而言，我認為這是適度收入的結合——最顯著的是會議收入，但也有一點諮詢收入，以及本季度審慎的支出計劃。所以我認為這就是我描述第一季度利潤率表現的方式。

In terms of looking forward, if you think about the composition of our expenses and the phasing of our business, if you use the Q1 adjusted operating expense number as sort of a baseline, remember that like 3/4 of our expenses are people-related, and our merit increase goes into effect on April 1. And so that causes a step-up in the OpEx rolling out in Q2, Q3, Q4.

就展望而言，如果你考慮我們的支出構成和我們業務的階段性，如果你使用第一季度調整後的運營支出數字作為基線，請記住我們 3/4 的支出與人有關，我們的業績增長將於 4 月 1 日生效。因此，這會導致第二季度、第三季度和第四季度推出的 OpEx 有所提高。

Our conference calendar also picks up, most notably Q2 and Q4, and so there's a step-up in operating expenses associated with that. Our travel tends to pick up, and we spend more seasonally Q2 and Q4. And so that's a pickup in the OpEx as well. And so again, I think we're -- we planned our revenue outlook pretty carefully and, again, keeping in mind the pretty volatile macro environment.

我們的會議日曆也有所增加，尤其是第二季度和第四季度，因此與此相關的運營費用有所增加。我們的旅行趨於回暖，我們在第二季度和第四季度的季節性支出更多。因此，這也是 OpEx 的回升。因此，我認為我們再次非常仔細地規劃了我們的收入前景，並再次牢記相當不穩定的宏觀環境。

And the OpEx, to your point, we've already got a lot of the hiring from last year. That is now in the Q1 run rate, for sure. We've got a modest amount of growth hiring set for the balance of this year just to continue and support the growth. And then you've got those dynamics I just listed out earlier, the biggest 2 probably being the merit increase going into effect and the conference calendar impacting OpEx Q2 through Q4.

而 OpEx，就你的觀點而言，我們已經從去年開始招聘了很多人。當然，這是現在第一季度的運行率。我們已經為今年餘下的時間安排了適度的增長招聘，以繼續和支持增長。然後你就得到了我剛才列出的那些動態，最大的兩個可能是即將生效的績效增長和影響 OpEx Q2 到 Q4 的會議日曆。

Very helpful. And then for my follow-up, I just wanted to ask a little bit more on headcount growth and kind of talent environment. I guess, Gene, you mentioned it being fantastic. I guess, one, can you talk a little bit about why you think the environment for hiring sales talent is so good today versus a year ago maybe?

很有幫助。然後對於我的後續行動，我只想多問一點關於員工人數增長和人才環境的問題。我想，吉恩，你提到它太棒了。我想，一個，你能談談為什麼你認為今天招聘銷售人才的環境比一年前好嗎？

And then also, how much does that impact your ability to be nimble on the headcount front? It would seem like if there's a bunch of supply, you can be a little bit more careful and not feel like you need to hoard all the best people right away. Or is it a different dynamic where you decide to take advantage of all that's out there and potentially have a little bit narrower gap between headcount growth and CV growth? Just how you're thinking about those dynamics?

然後，這對您在員工人數方面保持敏捷的能力有多大影響？看起來如果有一堆供應，你可以稍微小心一點，而不是覺得你需要馬上囤積所有最好的人。或者它是一種不同的動態，您決定利用現有的一切，並可能縮小員工人數增長和 CV 增長之間的差距？你是如何看待這些動態的？

Yes, Andrew, so the reason the market is so good is, first, I mean we're an employer of choice. We have a great brand in the marketplace, and we have great recruiting teams. So there's a lot of operational reasons why things are going well. On top of that then, the whole tech realignment, the talent market that we compete most in for our people is with technology companies. And so when they're laying people off and not as aggressive about hiring, obviously, it helps us if that's the primary talent market.

是的，安德魯，所以市場這麼好的原因是，首先，我的意思是我們是首選雇主。我們在市場上擁有出色的品牌，並且擁有出色的招聘團隊。因此，事情進展順利的原因有很多。最重要的是，整個技術調整，我們為人才競爭最激烈的人才市場是與技術公司。因此，當他們裁員而不是積極招聘時，顯然，如果這是主要的人才市場，這對我們有幫助。

So it's a combination of we're a great place to work, we have a great reputation, we have great recruiting teams, combined with the fact that our traditional talent competitors are just really scaled -- have really scaled back hiring a lot. And so we're using that as an opportunity to make sure we hire really great people.

所以這是我們工作的好地方，我們有很好的聲譽，我們有很棒的招聘團隊，再加上我們傳統的人才競爭對手規模真的很大——真的縮減了很多招聘。因此，我們以此為契機，確保我們聘請到真正優秀的人才。

As we look forward, as Craig and I both said in our remarks, we want to make sure our net hiring incorporates the turnover we have as well as our CV growth so that we are hiring a bit behind our CV growth so that we -- it doesn't impact our margins negatively.

在我們展望未來時，正如克雷格和我在發言中所說的那樣，我們希望確保我們的淨招聘包括我們的營業額以及我們的 CV 增長，以便我們的招聘稍微落後於我們的 CV 增長，以便我們 -它不會對我們的利潤產生負面影響。

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 talked about Research CV being relatively stable in end markets outside of tech vendors. Just going back to that topic, can you elaborate on what you're seeing in other verticals? How would you characterize the selling environment? How are client budgets performing? And what are you seeing with sales cycles?

你談到 Research CV 在技術供應商之外的終端市場相對穩定。回到那個話題，你能詳細說明一下你在其他垂直領域看到的情況嗎？您如何描述銷售環境？客戶預算執行情況如何？您對銷售週期有何看法？

George, so what I'd say is that it's kind of what we -- normal in the sense that there are some companies that are thriving, there are some companies that are more challenged. And we have to tailor the problems that we're working on with what the company's situation is. And again, it gets back to the strategy I talked about earlier, which is let's make sure our research is focused on the most important issues for our clients. And then let's also make sure that our salespeople, our service delivery people know what those topics are, it can be right up front and helping clients.

喬治，所以我要說的是，從某種意義上說，這是我們的正常現象，有些公司正在蓬勃發展，有些公司面臨更大的挑戰。我們必鬚根據公司的情況調整我們正在解決的問題。再一次，它回到了我之前談到的策略，那就是讓我們確保我們的研究集中在對我們的客戶最重要的問題上。然後我們還要確保我們的銷售人員、我們的服務交付人員知道這些主題是什麼，它可以直接幫助客戶。

And so as I mentioned before, it's things like cybersecurity, data analytics, cost optimization, building a digital business, optimizing cloud computing. And not every company has all of those, but the -- if you look at each kind of the company, depending on where they are, we help them with the issues that are most important for them.

正如我之前提到的，它涉及網絡安全、數據分析、成本優化、建立數字業務、優化雲計算等內容。並不是每家公司都擁有所有這些，但是——如果你看看每一種公司，根據他們所在的位置，我們會幫助他們解決對他們來說最重要的問題。

Got it. And then as it relates to your research sales headcount expectations, can you outline what the cadence of hiring should look like in GBS and GTS over the remainder of this year now that the bulk of hiring is behind you?

知道了。然後，由於它與您的研究銷售人員預期相關，您能否概述一下今年剩餘時間內 GBS 和 GTS 的招聘節奏，因為大部分招聘都在您身後？

Yes, George, especially -- and again, as Gene and I both mentioned in prepared remarks, we are, with a lot of agility, making sure that we are calibrating appropriately where we exit this year from an overall headcount perspective across all of Gartner and, in particular, in terms of frontline sellers in both GTS and GBS.

是的，喬治，尤其是——再一次，正如吉恩和我在準備好的發言中提到的那樣，我們非常靈活地確保我們在今年從整個 Gartner 的整體員工人數角度出發進行適當的校準尤其是在 GTS 和 GBS 的一線賣家方面。

And so there's a range of outcomes for the full year from both a contract value growth perspective, but also from a headcount perspective. And given all the dynamics we talked about in the labor markets and the fact that we've got world-class recruiting, our talent acquisition organization and we've got a great associate hiring proposition as well, we feel like we can be pretty agile on this and just make sure that we are appropriately calibrated so that we enter next year with enough investment to make sure that we can sustain growth, but also deliver really strong margin performance as well.

因此，無論是從合同價值增長的角度還是從員工人數的角度來看，全年都有一系列結果。考慮到我們在勞動力市場上談論的所有動態，以及我們擁有世界一流的招聘、我們的人才招聘組織以及我們也有一個很棒的員工招聘提議的事實，我們覺得我們可以非常敏捷在此基礎上，確保我們進行了適當的校準，以便我們以足夠的投資進入明年，以確保我們能夠維持增長，同時也提供非常強勁的利潤率表現。

Our next question comes from Jeff Silber with BMO Capital Markets.

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

I wanted to focus on the research pricing environment. If you can remind us what price increases you've been pushing through so far this year, what your expectations are for the rest of the year? And I know others in the space may not necessarily be direct competitors, but we're seeing some companies extending terms of their contract renewals but taking lower price. Is that something that you're doing or considering?

我想專注於研究定價環境。如果你能提醒我們今年到目前為止你推動了哪些價格上漲，你對今年剩餘時間的預期是什麼？而且我知道該領域的其他人不一定是直接競爭對手，但我們看到一些公司延長了續簽合同的期限但價格更低。這是你正在做或正在考慮的事情嗎？

Jeff, in terms of our pricing, the bulk of our pricing goes into effect on November 1, and so -- which impacts this current year. And so if you recall back to November-ish of 2021, we were increasing prices in the 5% to 6% range. This past cycle, it was more closer to 5%, again, given a little bit of a less inflationary environment. And again, we want to make sure that at the minimum, we are pricing to offset the wage inflation that we are seeing. And in '21, we were seeing much more pressure on wage inflation. And so we went a little bit harder on the price increases then; this year, a little less, and so roughly around 5%.

傑夫，就我們的定價而言，我們的大部分定價將於 11 月 1 日生效，因此 - 這會影響今年。因此，如果您回想起 2021 年 11 月左右，我們將價格提高了 5% 到 6%。在過去的這個週期中，再次接近 5%，因為通脹環境略有下降。再一次，我們要確保至少，我們的定價能夠抵消我們看到的工資通脹。而在 21 年，我們看到工資上漲的壓力更大。因此，我們在漲價方面採取了更嚴厲的措施；今年少了一點，大概在5%左右。

In terms of the environment and giving on terms or anything like that, generally, I'd say we're -- we've managed to hold to our terms. And so we're not giving away extra days or months in terms of when we could get paid. We're still pushing very hard on getting paid upfront, which is obviously a core part of our free cash flow machine.

在環境和條款或類似方面，一般來說，我會說我們 - 我們已經設法遵守我們的條款。因此，就何時可以獲得報酬而言，我們不會放棄額外的天數或月數。我們仍在努力爭取提前獲得報酬，這顯然是我們自由現金流機器的核心部分。

As Gene and I have all talked about in the past, generally, our contracts are relatively small or small-ish ticket items for our clients, representing a pretty teeny portion of their overall budgets. And so we're generally able to -- again, not without negotiations and not without conversations, but hold to our pricing structure, so no discounting and holding strong on our terms as well.

正如 Gene 和我過去所說的那樣，一般來說，我們的合同對於我們的客戶來說是相對較小或較小的門票項目，只佔他們總預算的很小一部分。因此，我們通常能夠——同樣，不是沒有談判，也不是沒有對話，而是堅持我們的定價結構，所以不打折，也堅持我們的條款。

Okay. That's helpful. If I switch to the Consulting segment, I know it can be choppy, but utilization was down pretty significantly in the first quarter. Can we talk about what's going on there or what your expectations are for the rest of the year on that metric?

好的。這很有幫助。如果我轉向諮詢部門，我知道它可能會起伏不定，但第一季度的利用率大幅下降。我們能否談談那裡發生了什麼，或者您對今年餘下時間對該指標的期望是什麼？

Yes, great question. On the Consulting side, we -- like in a lot of our business, we're playing catch-up on headcount and hiring over the course of last year. And so we did grow the team based on the demand we were seeing fairly aggressively over the back half of last year.

是的，很好的問題。在諮詢方面，我們 - 就像在我們的許多業務中一樣，我們正在追趕去年的人數和招聘人數。因此，我們確實根據去年下半年相當積極地看到的需求擴大了團隊。

We're still seeing really good demand. We're in a really good backlog position exiting Q1. And I'd say we ran a little bit hotter than normal in utilization last year, particularly in the first half of the year, but overall last year. So it's a tough comp from that perspective.

我們仍然看到非常好的需求。我們在退出第一季度時處於非常好的積壓狀態。我想說我們去年的利用率比正常情況要高一些，尤其是在今年上半年，但去年總體而言。所以從這個角度來看，這是一個艱難的組合。

And again, just like the rest of the business, we are making sure that we are appropriately calibrated from a headcount perspective and a demand perspective. And we feel like we're in that situation right now with Consulting. We've got strong demand, we've got good backlog and we'll continue to monitor it to make sure that we can both deliver on the top line, but also make sure we're delivering strong margins there as well.

再一次，就像其他業務一樣，我們確保我們從員工人數和需求的角度進行了適當的校準。我們覺得我們現在在諮詢方面處於這種情況。我們有強勁的需求，我們有很好的積壓，我們將繼續監控它，以確保我們既能實現最高目標，又能確保我們在那裡也能提供可觀的利潤。

Our next question comes from Manav Patnaik with Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Manav Patnaik。

Craig, I was just hoping on the expense side, specific to SG&A, you could help us with just the cadence through the quarters there. And is the S part still like 2/3 of that mix right now?

克雷格，我只是希望在費用方面，具體到 SG&A，你可以幫助我們調整那裡的節奏。 S 部分現在仍然是該組合的 2/3 嗎？

Manav, yes, so the -- so if you look at the SG&A line, again, think of it running mid-40s to high 40s as a percent of revenue on a rolling 4-quarter basis. About 2/3 of it is the S or the selling portion, most notably GTS and GBS selling, although we do have our conference sales organizations and a few other sales organizations in the S line as well.

Manav，是的，所以 - 所以如果你再看看 SG&A 線，想想它在 40 多歲到 40 多歲之間運行，作為連續 4 個季度的收入百分比。大約 2/3 是 S 或銷售部分，最顯著的是 GTS 和 GBS 銷售，儘管我們在 S 系列中也有我們的會議銷售組織和其他一些銷售組織。

And the cadence of spending is similar to what I outlined with Andrew's question a few questions ago, look at the Q1 rough OpEx run rate and SG&A -- adjusted SG&A run rate. Merit goes into effect on April 1, and so that impacts that run rate for Q2, Q3, Q4. As I mentioned, travel, we do travel more in Q2 and Q4, and so you bake that in. And if you bake those things in, you should have a pretty good view on how SG&A expense should look Q2, Q3, Q4 of this year.

支出的節奏與我在幾個問題前安德魯的問題中概述的相似，看看第一季度粗略的 OpEx 運行率和 SG&A——調整後的 SG&A 運行率。 Merit 將於 4 月 1 日生效，因此會影響第二季度、第三季度和第四季度的運行率。正如我提到的，旅行，我們在第二季度和第四季度確實有更多的旅行，所以你把它納入考慮。如果你把這些東西納入考慮，你應該對 SG&A 費用應該如何看待 Q2、Q3、Q4 有一個很好的看法年。

Got it. Okay. That's helpful. And then just my second question was more, can you remind us what your multiyear contract -- like how much of your business is now multiyear contract, what that average duration is? Because that should help you be obviously more resilient here.

知道了。好的。這很有幫助。然後我的第二個問題更多，你能提醒我們你的多年合同是什麼——比如你現在有多少業務是多年合同，平均期限是多少？因為這應該可以幫助您在這裡明顯更有彈性。

Yes, absolutely. So our overall multiyear contracts as a percent of the Research business is around 70%. So about 70% of the contracts that we have in force are multiyear in nature. The bulk of them are 2-year contracts, although we do have a growing but small segment of more than 2-year contracts. Important to note that some multiyear contracts will come due this year, obviously.

是的，一點沒錯。因此，我們的整體多年期合同佔研究業務的百分比約為 70%。因此，我們擁有的大約 70% 的合同都是多年期合同。其中大部分是 2 年期合同，儘管我們確實有 2 年以上合同的增長但一小部分。值得注意的是，一些多年期合同顯然將在今年到期。

But you're right, in terms of the resiliency of the business, clearly having a large portion of our contract value tied up in multiyear contracts that are not up for renewal over the course of 2023 is clearly a good thing for us. And we recognize the strategic importance and value of focusing on multiyear contracts. Our salespeople do as well. Our clients do as well. Quite frankly, it's good for them, too. But it's clearly a strong element of the business that we have so much tied up in multiyear contracts, but again, most of them are 2-year contracts.

但你是對的，就業務的彈性而言，顯然我們的合同價值的很大一部分與多年期合同捆綁在一起，這些合同在 2023 年期間不會續簽，這對我們來說顯然是一件好事。我們認識到專注於多年合同的戰略重要性和價值。我們的銷售人員也是如此。我們的客戶也是如此。坦率地說，這對他們也有好處。但這顯然是業務的一個重要組成部分，我們在多年合同中有如此多的捆綁，但同樣，其中大部分是 2 年期合同。

We have a question from Stephanie Moore with Jefferies.

Jefferies 的 Stephanie Moore 提出了一個問題。

I just wanted to touch on the Conference side of the business, clearly really strong growth. Would love to get more color on what you're hearing in regards to maybe advanced bookings and other demand, if that demand has changed at all versus maybe pre-COVID levels to still [healthy levels]?

我只想談談會議方面的業務，顯然增長非常強勁。如果這種需求與 COVID 之前的水平相比已經完全改變到仍然[健康水平]，是否願意對您聽到的有關提前預訂和其他需求的內容有更多的了解？

Yes, Stephanie, it's a great question. So conferences are a really important part of our business, and we're seeing very robust demand for conferences, both from attendees and from exhibitors. My own take on it is that there's a lot of pent-up demand to do in-person events, of which our Conferences are part of that. And so we're seeing very strong demand on all parts of the business.

是的，斯蒂芬妮，這是一個很好的問題。因此，會議是我們業務中非常重要的一部分，我們看到與會者和參展商對會議的需求非常強勁。我自己的看法是，有很多被壓抑的需求來進行面對面的活動，我們的會議就是其中的一部分。因此，我們看到對業務各個部分的需求非常強勁。

Great. And then just for a follow-up, I'm curious what you're seeing in general on the Consulting side from just an overall upselling and cross-selling standpoint. Maybe any customers or clients in part that are pulling back at all on just number of fees just given the uncertain macro? Or you're still kind of seeing the same level of activity?

偉大的。然後只是為了跟進，我很好奇你從整體追加銷售和交叉銷售的角度來看，在諮詢方面總體上看到了什麼。鑑於不確定的宏觀環境，也許任何客戶或部分客戶完全取消了費用數量？或者您仍然看到相同水平的活動？

Stephanie, it's Craig. So just to clarify your question because I'm not sure I heard it completely. I heard Consulting at the beginning, but then I heard Research. So could you just repeat the question? Would you mind?

斯蒂芬妮，我是克雷格。所以只是為了澄清你的問題，因為我不確定我是否完全聽到了。一開始聽說Consulting，後來聽說Research。那麼你能重複這個問題嗎？你會介意的？

No, I'm sorry. I apologize. I was just curious on what you're seeing from an upsell and cross-sell standpoint. And if you've seen any change in activity as of late, maybe clients pulling back at all?

不，我很抱歉。我道歉。我只是想知道您從追加銷售和交叉銷售的角度看到了什麼。而且，如果您最近看到活動有任何變化，也許客戶根本就撤退了？

Yes. So I think, clearly, with our tech vendor clients, as we've described in detail, the upsell is certainly more challenging in this environment given the recalibration and sort of the tumult in that space.

是的。所以我認為，很明顯，正如我們已經詳細描述的那樣，對於我們的技術供應商客戶，考慮到該領域的重新校準和某種動盪，在這種環境下追加銷售肯定更具挑戰性。

We're still upselling wherever we can. I do think in the particularly challenged areas like tech vendors, what we are seeing, our clients really get huge value out of Gartner, and so they don't want to fully cancel their relationships. And so they may reduce a license or 2 here or there. We're seeing that in some of the more challenged end-user industries as well, like as Gene mentioned, regional banking or things like that.

我們仍在竭盡所能進行追加銷售。我確實認為，在技術供應商等特別具有挑戰性的領域，我們所看到的是，我們的客戶確實從 Gartner 獲得了巨大的價值，因此他們不想完全取消他們的關係。因此，他們可能會在這里或那裡減少一個或兩個許可證。我們在一些更具挑戰性的最終用戶行業也看到了這一點，就像 Gene 提到的那樣，區域銀行業或類似的行業。

But overall, I think it all comes back to we're offering a really strong value proposition, and our clients really, really need help. And as long as we're doing that, we'll be able to maintain our -- the investment level within clients. And in fact, if you look at the wallet retention numbers increased, on average, the amount of spend each and every year. And then when things in those impacted markets stabilize, we should get right back to the kind of growth that we've historically delivered.

但總的來說，我認為這一切都歸結為我們提供了一個非常強大的價值主張，我們的客戶真的、真的需要幫助。只要我們這樣做，我們就能夠保持我們對客戶的投資水平。事實上，如果你看一下錢包保留數字，平均每年的支出量都會增加。然後，當那些受影響的市場穩定下來時，我們應該立即恢復到我們過去實現的那種增長。

And there are no other questions in the queue. I'd like to turn it back to Gene Hall for closing remarks.

隊列中沒有其他問題。我想把它轉回 Gene Hall 作結束語。

Well, here's what I'd like you to take away from today's call. In the first quarter of '23, we again saw strong growth across the business. Gartner delivers incredible value to enterprises that are thriving, struggling or anywhere in between. Our insights address today's mission-critical priorities. And by being exceptionally agile and adapting to the changing world, we've delivered a sustained record of success. We've covered and aligned our hiring with recent demand and our long-term opportunity. We know the right things to do to be successful in any environment.

好吧，這就是我希望你從今天的電話中拿走的東西。在 23 年第一季度，我們再次看到整個業務的強勁增長。 Gartner 為蓬勃發展、苦苦掙扎或介於兩者之間的企業提供難以置信的價值。我們的見解解決了當今的關鍵任務優先事項。通過異常敏捷和適應不斷變化的世界，我們創造了持續的成功記錄。我們已經涵蓋並調整了我們的招聘與近期需求和我們的長期機會。我們知道在任何環境下都應該做正確的事情才能取得成功。

Looking ahead, we are well positioned to drive growth far into the future. We expect margins to increase modestly over time, and we generate significant free cash flow well in excess of net income. Even as we invest for future growth, we'll return significant levels of excess capital to our shareholders, which reduces shares outstanding and increases returns over time.

展望未來，我們已準備好推動未來的增長。我們預計利潤率會隨著時間的推移而適度增加，並且我們產生的自由現金流量遠遠超過淨收入。即使我們為未來增長進行投資，我們也會將大量過剩資本返還給我們的股東，這會減少已發行股票並隨著時間的推移增加回報。

Thanks for joining us today, and we look forward to updating you again next quarter.

感謝您今天加入我們，我們期待下個季度再次為您更新。

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。