Wedbush Issues Positive Forecast for Qualys Earnings

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) – Stock analysts at Wedbush boosted their Q1 2026 earnings per share estimates for shares of Qualys in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, May 7th. Wedbush analyst D. Ives now expects that the software maker will post earnings per share of $1.09 for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $1.01. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $145.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Qualys’ current full-year earnings is $3.85 per share.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on QLYS. Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $146.00 target price (down from $150.00) on shares of Qualys in a report on Monday, February 10th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on shares of Qualys from $163.00 to $158.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Qualys presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $137.50.

Qualys Price Performance

NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $132.31 on Friday. Qualys has a 12 month low of $112.61 and a 12 month high of $170.00. The business’s 50-day moving average is $125.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.81 billion, a PE ratio of 28.45 and a beta of 0.61.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $159.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.05 million. Qualys had a net margin of 28.59% and a return on equity of 38.52%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.45 earnings per share.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Qualys during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in Qualys by 88.1% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 333 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Qualys during the fourth quarter worth about $54,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in Qualys by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 4,542 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.08, for a total value of $636,243.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 108,215 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,158,757.20. This represents a 4.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.17, for a total transaction of $995,190.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 246,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,994,292.48. The trade was a 2.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 31,156 shares of company stock valued at $4,164,721. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.