Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Releases Q4 2024 Earnings Guidance

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) issued an update on its fourth quarter 2024 earnings guidance on Tuesday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of 1.280-1.380 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 1.280. The company issued revenue guidance of $154.5 million-$157.5 million, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $154.1 million. Qualys also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 5.810-5.910 EPS.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

QLYS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Qualys from $116.00 to $115.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Qualys from $167.00 to $150.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $140.00 price objective (down from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Qualys from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Qualys has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $152.80.

Qualys Stock Performance

NASDAQ QLYS traded up $31.00 on Wednesday, reaching $159.23. The company had a trading volume of 2,996,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 441,907. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.07 and a beta of 0.47. The company’s fifty day moving average is $124.93 and its 200-day moving average is $136.32. Qualys has a 1-year low of $119.17 and a 1-year high of $206.35.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total transaction of $876,470.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 179,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,493,851.29. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 616 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.54, for a total transaction of $76,100.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 86,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,695,599.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total transaction of $876,470.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 179,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,493,851.29. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 10,919 shares of company stock valued at $1,360,140. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.