Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.16 EPS

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The software maker reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.16), Zacks reports. Qualys had a return on equity of 39.64% and a net margin of 28.59%. Qualys updated its FY 2025 guidance to 5.500-5.900 EPS and its Q1 2025 guidance to 1.400-1.500 EPS.

Qualys Stock Down 3.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS traded down $5.14 during trading on Friday, reaching $135.57. 626,046 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 350,052. The company has a market capitalization of $4.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.15 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $143.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.70. Qualys has a twelve month low of $119.17 and a twelve month high of $174.73.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on QLYS. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Qualys from $162.00 to $135.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $149.25.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.66, for a total value of $1,047,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 225,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,741,295.98. This represents a 3.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 8,555 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.62, for a total value of $1,322,774.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 64,032 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,900,627.84. The trade was a 11.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 31,259 shares of company stock valued at $4,578,153. Corporate 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.