Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Releases 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 (EPS) guidance of 1.760-1.830 for the period, compared to the consensus 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.

Qualys Stock Performance

NASDAQ QLYS traded down $1.37 during trading on Thursday, hitting $127.81. The stock had a trading volume of 827,333 shares, compared to its average volume of 451,920. Qualys has a 12 month low of $112.61 and a 12 month high of $155.47. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $137.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.36. The company has a market capitalization of $4.58 billion, a PE ratio of 24.77 and a beta of 0.53.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

QLYS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Qualys from $158.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Northland Securities set a $162.00 price target on Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Robert W. Baird set a $150.00 price objective on Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Qualys from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $117.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. One equities research 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Qualys presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.57.

Insider Activity

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 252,800 shares in the company, valued at $37,191,936. This trade represents a 3.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 3,077 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.99, for a total value of $449,211.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 71,776 shares in the company, valued at $10,478,578.24. The trade was a 4.11% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 37,628 shares of company stock valued at $5,343,650 over the last ninety days. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Qualys by 2.8% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,081,015 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $143,051,000 after purchasing an additional 29,342 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 46.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,012,100 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $144,133,000 after buying an additional 323,324 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Qualys by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 695,732 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $92,077,000 after buying an additional 14,380 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Qualys by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 545,655 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $72,207,000 after buying an additional 4,378 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in Qualys by 12.7% in the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 506,792 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $72,400,000 after buying an additional 57,142 shares in the last quarter. 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.