Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Releases Q4 2024 Earnings Guidance

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) updated its fourth quarter 2024 earnings guidance on Tuesday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of 1.280-1.380 for the period, compared to the consensus 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on QLYS shares. DA Davidson raised Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen cut their price target on Qualys from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Wedbush cut their price target on Qualys from $190.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Qualys from $136.00 to $123.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.23.

Qualys Stock Performance

QLYS traded up $3.63 on Tuesday, hitting $128.23. 1,477,881 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 429,681. Qualys has a 12 month low of $119.17 and a 12 month high of $206.35. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $124.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $136.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a PE ratio of 28.24 and a beta of 0.47.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $148.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $148.80 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.95 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Qualys will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $22,493,851.29. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,339 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.56, for a total value of $165,446.84. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 55,279 shares in the company, valued at $6,830,273.24. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total transaction of $876,470.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 179,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,493,851.29. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,919 shares of company stock worth $1,360,140 in the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company 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.