Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Trading Down 8.6% – Here’s What Happened

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) dropped 8.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $121.00 and last traded at $116.8570. Approximately 139,369 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 434,913 shares. The stock had previously closed at $127.81.

Qualys News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Qualys this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat consensus: GAAP EPS $1.87 vs $1.78 expected and revenue $175.3M vs $173.2M; revenue grew ~10% year-over-year and margins expanded — a solid operating beat that supports longer-term growth thesis. Qualys Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised forward guidance well above consensus: Q1 EPS guide of $1.76–1.83 (vs ~1.57 consensus) and FY2026 EPS guide of $7.17–7.45 (vs ~6.59 consensus), plus revenue targets that generally track above estimates — a concrete catalyst for upside if they hit the plan. Q4/FY2025 Press Release / Slide Deck
• Positive Sentiment: Board increased the share repurchase program by $200M — a shareholder-friendly move that can support EPS and return capital. Share Repurchase Announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and a $155 price target (material upside vs recent levels), which underscores continued sell-side confidence. Wedbush Reaffirms Outperform
• Neutral Sentiment: Detailed call transcripts and presentations are available for due diligence — useful for parsing management commentary on product demand, channel trends and margin drivers. Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Stock sold off sharply today despite the beat and raised guidance — likely driven by profit-taking after a prior run-up, high-volume liquidation, and broader market/sector weakness; short-term momentum and technicals now look pressured. (Monitor next-day flows, any insider commentary, and execution against the raised guidance.)

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on QLYS. Berenberg Bank assumed coverage on Qualys in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $165.00 target price for the company. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Qualys in a research note on Friday. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Qualys from $139.00 to $135.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $117.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $140.71.

Qualys Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $137.68 and its 200 day moving average is $135.30. The company has a market cap of $4.01 billion, a PE ratio of 21.71 and a beta of 0.53.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.40% and a net margin of 28.96%.The firm had revenue of $175.28 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $173.18 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.60 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Qualys has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.760-1.830 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.170-7.450 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.76, for a total transaction of $668,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 247,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,145,728. The trade was a 1.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,101 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.34, for a total transaction of $145,706.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 68,598 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,078,259.32. This represents a 1.58% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 37,628 shares of company stock worth $5,343,650 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 2.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,401,798 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $582,490,000 after purchasing an additional 123,962 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its position in Qualys by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,146,289 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $151,688,000 after buying an additional 8,425 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Qualys by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,115,717 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $159,402,000 after buying an additional 44,000 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Qualys by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,081,015 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $143,051,000 after acquiring an additional 29,342 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 46.9% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,012,100 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $144,133,000 after acquiring an additional 323,324 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.