Reasons for the Outperformance of Gartner (IT) in Q4

Conestoga Capital Advisors, an asset management company, released its “SMid Cap Strategy” fourth-quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The strategy outperformed the Russell 2500 Growth Index in the fourth quarter with a total return of 13.26% net-of-fess versus the benchmark return of 12.59%. The market had significant volatility throughout the quarter, as the Index experienced a decline of approximately -8% from the start of the period until October 27th. However, by year’s conclusion, stocks had rallied by over 22%. Both during the downturn and the recovery, the SMid Cap strategy was able to outperform despite the significant fluctuations in benchmark returns. For the full year 2023, the Smid Cap Composite’s return of 26.61% outperformed the benchmark’s gain of 18.93%. Strong stock selection and positive sector allocation effects were cited as the main causes of the excess returns. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.

Conestoga Capital Advisors SMid Cap Strategy featured stocks such as Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) in the fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) is a research and advisory company.  On February 16, 2024, Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) stock closed at $448.61 per share. One-month return of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) was -3.50%, and its shares gained 29.65% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) has a market capitalization of $34.977 billion.

Conestoga Capital Advisors SMid Cap Strategy stated the following regarding Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:

“Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT): IT is a research and advisory company, which equips business leaders with insights, advice, and tools to improve their businesses. The company reported robust 3Q results with outperformance on revenue, EBITDA margins and EPS, and raised full year guidance. Research contract value increased a healthy 8.1% year-over-year on a constant currency basis, comprised of 6.5% growth in Global Technology Sales (GTS) and 14.0% growth in Global Business Sales (GBS). Additionally, management once again modestly raised its full year guidance for EBITDA margins.”

A portfolio manager discussing investments with a client, highlighting the company’s advisory services.

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. At the end of the fourth quarter, Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) was held by 41 hedge fund portfolios, up from 36 in the previous quarter, according to our database.

We discussed Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) in another article and shared Baron Funds’ views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2023 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.