Key Highlights

  • Veeva Systems reported fiscal second-quarter 2027 total Revenue up 18% to $928.0 million, with a non-GAAP Operating Margin of 44.8%.
  • IQVIA reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $4,368 million, up 8.7%, with net new bookings jumping 19% to $3.15 billion and an R&D Backlog of $34.2 billion.
  • Gartner reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted revenue up 2.8% and raised full-year adjusted earnings-per-share guidance to at least $14, from $13.25.

The advantage these three monetise is not code or data alone but accumulated domain knowledge, of drug development, of healthcare, and of enterprise decision-making, which is far harder for rivals to replicate than software features. Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE:VEEV), a life-sciences cloud software company, IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV), a healthcare data-analytics and contract-research group, and Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT), a research and advisory firm, each sit where deep industry expertise, proprietary data and software meet. Their 2026 results show that positioning defending margins even as growth rates diverge sharply.

Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE:VEEV): The Life-Sciences System of Record

Veeva, whose financial year ends 31 January, reported fiscal second-quarter 2027 results for the quarter ended 31 July 2026. Total revenue rose 18% to $928.0 million, with subscription revenue up 16% to $766.8 million, split between Commercial Solutions at $347.4 million and R&D and Quality Solutions at $419.4 million. Non-GAAP operating margin reached 44.8%. Management guided full-year revenue to $3,682 to $3,687 million and non-GAAP EPS to about $9.21.

IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV): Data Plus Clinical-Trial Muscle

IQVIA reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $4,368 million, up 8.7% (8.5% at constant currency). Commercial Solutions revenue rose 8.6% to $1,793 million and R&D Solutions grew 8.8% to $2,575 million. Net new bookings jumped 19% to $3.15 billion, and the R&D backlog stood at $34.2 billion, of which management expects roughly $9.2 billion to convert within twelve months. Adjusted EPS was $3.15, up 12.1%.

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT): Selling Judgement by Subscription

Gartner reported second-quarter 2026 total revenue of $1.68 billion. Reported revenue slipped 0.6% year on year after the divestment of its Digital Markets business, though adjusted revenue rose 2.8%. Research revenue grew 2.1% to $1.29 billion, with global contract value up 1.7% to $5.28 billion; Conferences revenue advanced 15.5% to $244 million while Consulting fell 8.8% to $142 million. Adjusted EPS was $4.37. Management raised full-year 2026 adjusted EPS guidance to at least $14, from $13.25, while trimming adjusted revenue to at least $6.38 billion.

Same Advantage, Different Economics

All three convert expertise into high-retention, subscription-like revenue, but the mechanics differ. Veeva is the highest-margin and fastest grower, effectively the software backbone of an entire industry, which is why it commands the richest multiple of the trio. IQVIA is more capital- and labour-intensive, its growth tied to biopharma research spending and trial starts, so its backlog is the leading indicator. Gartner monetises analysts and syndicated research; its growth has cooled markedly, which makes renewal rates and net contract-value expansion the critical gauge rather than any single quarter's headline, especially with the Digital Markets divestiture muddying reported comparisons.

Risks

Concentration is the shared vulnerability: all three lean on pharma and enterprise-technology budgets that tighten in downturns. Veeva carries the unusual execution risk of running its own CRM after leaving a third-party platform. IQVIA is exposed to biotech funding cycles and clinical-trial cancellations. Gartner's decelerating contract value and the drag from divested units cloud its top line. AI is double-edged: it may deepen each moat or, for Gartner especially, let some clients self-serve insight they once bought.

What to Monitor

For Veeva, track Vault CRM migrations and R&D Cloud adoption; for IQVIA, net new bookings and the pace of backlog conversion; for Gartner, whether contract-value growth stabilises or slips further. Across all three, watch how AI shifts from Marketing narrative to billed revenue, the theme that will decide whether industry expertise remains a durable advantage or is gradually commoditised.