UPDATE 2-Gartner Q2 earnings top Street view, shares rise

(Recasts; adds conference call details, analyst's comments, share movement)

By Deepti Govind

BANGALORE, July 30 (Reuters) - Technology market research firm Gartner Inc (IT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by strong revenue growth in its research and consulting segments and tight expense control, sending its shares up by as much as 8 percent.

"The main upside in the earnings per share was very tight expense control, especially in the zero growth in sales force," said William Sutherland, an analyst with Boenning & Scattergood Inc.

Gartner has been guarded in its plans to grow its sales force due to the uncertain economic environment. In May, the company said it was targeting an about 10 percent sales force growth in 2008. This compares with the more than 20 percent growth in the last three years.

For the second quarter, Gartner's profit doubled to $29.9 million, or 30 cents a share, compared with $14 million, or 13 cents a share, a year ago.

Revenue rose 17 percent to $343.9 million.

Analysts on average expected earnings of 23 cents a share on revenue of $334.4 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

Revenue from the research segment, which accounts for more than half of the company's total revenue, grew about 20 percent to $195.8 million. Consulting segment revenue rose 13 percent to $94.6 million.