Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The software maker reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09, FiscalAI reports. The company had revenue of $175.28 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $173.18 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.40% and a net margin of 28.96%. Qualys updated its Q1 2026 guidance to 1.760-1.830 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance to 7.170-7.450 EPS.

Here are the key takeaways from Qualys’ conference call:

• Qualys reported full‑year revenue of $669.1M (up 10%) and Q4 revenue of $175.3M, with a strong adjusted EBITDA margin of 47% and free cash flow of $304.4M; the board also authorized a $200M increase to the share‑repurchase program (total available $360.5M).
• Fiscal 2026 revenue guidance was lowered to $717M–$725M (7%–8% growth) with EBITDA margin expected in the mid‑40s, signaling slower top‑line growth versus 2025’s 10% pace.
• Management emphasized product differentiation around the expanded ETM platform — an agentic AI risk fabric, exploit confirmation via Agent Val, an agent marketplace, native patching and identity posture — positioning Qualys as a vendor‑neutral, end‑to‑end pre‑breach remediation solution.
• Commercial momentum includes partner‑led growth (channel now 51% of revenue), several mid‑ to seven‑figure upsells with Global 50/200 customers and federal agencies, and early Q‑Flex beta traction to accelerate ETM adoption.
• Management noted adoption of ETM is still early — net dollar expansion was 103% with a modest sequential dip in gross dollar retention — leaving uncertainty about the timing and magnitude of any inflection in upsell-driven growth.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of QLYS stock traded down $1.37 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $127.81. The company had a trading volume of 827,475 shares, compared to its average volume of 452,069. Qualys has a 12-month low of $112.61 and a 12-month high of $155.47. The company has a market capitalization of $4.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.77 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $137.96 and a 200-day moving average of $135.36.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on QLYS shares. Robert W. Baird set a $150.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Northland Securities set a $162.00 price objective on Qualys in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Qualys from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 7,506 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.59, for a total transaction of $1,100,304.54. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 108,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,842,567.66. The trade was a 6.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 3,077 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.99, for a total transaction of $449,211.23. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 71,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,478,578.24. This represents a 4.11% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 37,628 shares of company stock valued at $5,343,650. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Horizon Investments LLC purchased a new position in Qualys in the third quarter worth approximately $57,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Qualys by 3,218.8% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 531 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 515 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Qualys by 482.0% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 646 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new stake in Qualys in the 3rd quarter valued at about $137,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Qualys during the second quarter worth about $213,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

About Qualys

Qualys, Inc (NASDAQ: QLYS) is a leading provider of cloud-based security and compliance solutions designed to help organizations streamline their IT security programs. Operating on a unified, modular platform, Qualys offers continuous visibility into global IT assets through a combination of lightweight cloud agents and on-premises scanner appliances. The platform supports an array of security and compliance use cases, enabling real-time detection of vulnerabilities, policy violations and misconfigurations across on-premises, cloud and hybrid environments.

The company’s flagship Qualys Cloud Platform delivers a suite of integrated applications, including vulnerability management, detection and response (VMDR), policy compliance, web application scanning, file integrity monitoring, asset inventory and container security.