Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.16 EPS

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The software maker reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.16), Zacks reports. Qualys had a return on equity of 40.24% and a net margin of 28.72%. Qualys updated its FY 2025 guidance to 5.500-5.900 EPS and its Q1 2025 guidance to 1.400-1.500 EPS.

Qualys Price Performance

QLYS stock opened at $140.71 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.15 billion, a PE ratio of 30.99 and a beta of 0.56. Qualys has a 12 month low of $119.17 and a 12 month high of $182.45. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $143.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $135.66.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on QLYS shares. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Qualys from $150.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group increased their price target on Qualys from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Qualys from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Qualys from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Qualys has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $152.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 225,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,741,295.98. This trade represents a 3.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 882 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.66, for a total transaction of $123,180.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 62,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,700,119.70. This trade represents a 1.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 31,259 shares of company stock worth $4,578,153. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Qualys Company Profile

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.