Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Issues Q1 2026 Earnings Guidance

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) issued an update on its first quarter 2026 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 1.760-1.830 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of 1.570. The company issued revenue guidance of $172.5 million-$174.5 million, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $173.3 million. Qualys also updated its FY 2026 guidance to 7.170-7.450 EPS.

Analyst Ratings Changes

QLYS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Qualys in a report on Monday, December 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $150.00 price objective on Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of Qualys from $158.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Qualys from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Northland Securities set a $162.00 price objective on shares of Qualys in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.57.

Qualys Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of Qualys stock traded down $1.37 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $127.81. The company had a trading volume of 827,333 shares, compared to its average volume of 451,920. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $137.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $135.36. Qualys has a 1-year low of $112.61 and a 1-year 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.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $175.28 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $173.18 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.40% and a net margin of 28.96%.Qualys has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.760-1.830 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.170-7.450 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Qualys will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 8,500 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.12, for a total transaction of $1,250,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 252,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,191,936. The trade was a 3.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 7,506 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 108,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,842,567.66. The trade was a 6.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 37,628 shares of company stock worth $5,343,650. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Horizon Investments LLC bought a new position in Qualys in the third quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in Qualys by 3,218.8% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 531 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 515 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Qualys by 482.0% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 646 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new position in Qualys in the 3rd quarter worth $137,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Qualys during the 2nd quarter worth about $213,000. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Qualys Company Profile

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.