Gartner, Inc. vs STANTEC INC., two Consulting stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Gartner earns 9.7% on assets and Stantec 6%, but only one of those firms could print its return on equity in a footnote without embarrassment: Gartner's headline 1168% divides by an equity base that 47 turns of debt-to-equity and years of buybacks have all but erased, an artifact, not a superpower. The operating economics are genuinely better at Gartner, a 20.9% margin on subscription research against Stantec's project-based 5.9% net. The market pays for the backlog anyway: 22.4 times Stantec against 13.3 times Gartner, with Gartner returning 14.5% of its price in free cash, nearly double Stantec's 8%. Subscription economics at a discount to project economics is the page's quiet anomaly.
Comparison updated 2026-07-10.
| Metric | IT | STN |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $134.91 | $69.32 |
| Market cap | $9.4B | $7.9B |
| Sector | Consulting | Consulting |
| Stage | Mature | Growth |
| P/E | 13.3 | 22.4 |
| P/B | 148.92 | 3.32 |
| P/S | 1.46 | 1.32 |
| EV/EBITDA | 8.5 | — |
| Revenue growth | +2.3% | +15.6% |
| Gross margin | 71.9% | — |
| Operating margin | 20.9% | — |
| Net margin | 11.4% | 5.9% |
| Return on equity | 1168.5% | 14.8% |
| Return on assets | 9.7% | 6.0% |
| Return on invested capital | 26.6% | — |
| FCF yield | 14.5% | 8.0% |
| Debt / equity | 47.06 | 0.00 |
| Current ratio | 0.94 | 1.23 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 2.96 | 2.47 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 6 / 9 | 7 / 9 |
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The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.