William Blair Issues Optimistic Forecast for Qualys Earnings

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) – Research analysts at William Blair increased their FY2025 EPS estimates for shares of Qualys in a research note issued on Wednesday, November 5th. William Blair analyst J. Ho now anticipates that the software maker will earn $5.27 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $4.65. The consensus estimate for Qualys’ current full-year earnings is $3.85 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Qualys’ Q4 2025 earnings at $1.29 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $1.32 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $1.38 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $1.41 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $5.37 EPS.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Northland Capmk raised Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Qualys from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Qualys from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $140.38.

Qualys Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $153.80 on Monday. Qualys has a fifty-two week low of $112.61 and a fifty-two week high of $159.73. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $132.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.05. The stock has a market cap of $5.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.70 and a beta of 0.58.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The software maker reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.30. Qualys had a net margin of 29.04% and a return on equity of 37.19%. The firm had revenue of $169.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $166.30 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Qualys has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.930-7.000 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 1.730-1.800 EPS.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Qualys by 1.1% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 110,027 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $13,856,000 after acquiring an additional 1,177 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Qualys by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 9,586 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,207,000 after acquiring an additional 590 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 80.6% during the 1st quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 4,438 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $559,000 after acquiring an additional 1,981 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 8,776 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,105,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in Qualys by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 10,300 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,297,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 844 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.80, for a total value of $113,771.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 93,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,624,154.80. The trade was a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.12, for a total transaction of $68,644.80. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 56,775 shares in the company, valued at $7,217,238. The trade was a 0.94% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 37,059 shares of company stock valued at $4,858,335. Company insiders own 0.88% 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.