Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Issues FY 2024 Earnings Guidance

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) updated its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Wednesday. The company provided EPS guidance of 5.060-5.300 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 5.180. The company issued revenue guidance of $601.5 million-$608.5 million, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $607.5 million. Qualys also updated its Q2 2024 guidance to 1.270-1.350 EPS.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on QLYS. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Qualys from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Wedbush dropped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $230.00 to $210.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Qualys in a research report on Friday, April 26th. They issued a sector perform rating and a $172.00 price objective on the stock. Stephens restated an equal weight rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Qualys in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Qualys from $212.00 to $180.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $162.23.

Qualys Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS traded up $2.12 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $151.87. 550,545 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 472,215. Qualys has a 12 month low of $113.00 and a 12 month high of $206.35. The company has a market capitalization of $5.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.59 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $166.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.70.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The software maker reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.26. Qualys had a return on equity of 49.06% and a net margin of 27.34%. The firm had revenue of $144.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.69 million. Equities research analysts expect that Qualys will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In other news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.62, for a total value of $690,594.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 194,481 shares in the company, valued at $32,598,905.22. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 4,120 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.62, for a total transaction of $690,594.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 194,481 shares in the company, valued at $32,598,905.22. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,430 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.91, for a total value of $235,821.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 63,057 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,398,729.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 14,590 shares of company stock worth $2,419,842. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Qualys

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.