Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Issues Q4 Earnings Guidance

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) issued an update on its fourth quarter earnings guidance on Tuesday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $1.28-1.38 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29. The company issued revenue guidance of $154.5-157.5 million, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $154.19 million. Qualys also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 5.810-5.910 EPS.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wedbush dropped their target price on shares of Qualys from $190.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Qualys from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Qualys from $116.00 to $115.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Qualys currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.23.

Qualys Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of QLYS traded up $3.63 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $128.23. 1,504,728 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 429,934. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a PE ratio of 28.24 and a beta of 0.47. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $124.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $136.41. Qualys has a fifty-two week low of $119.17 and a fifty-two week high of $206.35.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $148.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $148.80 million. Qualys had a net margin of 29.36% and a return on equity of 44.80%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. Research analysts predict that Qualys will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total value of $876,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 179,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,493,851.29. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total value of $876,470.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 179,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,493,851.29. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,330 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total value of $164,654.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 55,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,885,508.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 10,919 shares of company stock valued at $1,360,140. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

About Qualys

Qualys, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides cloud-based platform delivering information technology (IT), security, and compliance solutions in the United States and internationally. It offers Qualys Cloud Apps, which include Cybersecurity Asset Management and External Attack Surface Management; Vulnerability Management, Detection and Response; Web Application Scanning; Patch Management; Custom Assessment and Remediation; Multi-Vector Endpoint Detection and Response; Context Extended Detection and Response; Policy Compliance; File Integrity Monitoring; and Qualys TotalCloud, as well as Cloud Workload Protection, Cloud Detection and Response, Cloud Security Posture Management, Infrastructure as Code, and Container Security.