Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Earns “Outperform” Rating from Wedbush

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Wedbush in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $155.00 price objective on the software maker’s stock. Wedbush’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 39.89% from the company’s current price.

QLYS has been the topic of several other reports. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $130.00 price objective (down from $145.00) on shares of Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $150.00 target price on Qualys in a research report on Friday. Northland Securities set a $162.00 price target on Qualys in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Qualys from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Qualys from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $140.46.

Qualys Trading Down 13.3%

Shares of QLYS opened at $110.80 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $137.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.37 and a beta of 0.53. Qualys has a 1-year low of $109.72 and a 1-year high of $155.47.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $175.28 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $173.18 million. Qualys had a net margin of 29.64% and a return on equity of 38.56%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.60 earnings per share. Qualys has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.760-1.830 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.170-7.450 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Qualys will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In related news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 6,799 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.46, for a total transaction of $873,399.54. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 88,489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,367,296.94. This trade represents a 7.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 5,000 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.76, for a total transaction of $668,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 247,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,145,728. This trade represents a 1.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 44,427 shares of company stock valued at $6,217,050. 0.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Qualys by 2.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,401,798 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $582,490,000 after purchasing an additional 123,962 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its holdings in Qualys by 0.7% during the third quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,146,289 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $151,688,000 after buying an additional 8,425 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Qualys by 4.1% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,115,717 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $159,402,000 after buying an additional 44,000 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of Qualys by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,081,015 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $143,051,000 after acquiring an additional 29,342 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 323,324 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

More Qualys News

Here are the key news stories impacting Qualys this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat expectations — EPS $1.87 vs. $1.78 est; revenue $175.3M vs. $173.2M and revenue +10.1% YoY, showing steady growth and margin expansion. Qualys Q4 Earnings Surpass Expectations, Revenues Increase Y/Y
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised forward guidance: FY2026 EPS 7.170–7.450 (vs. consensus ~6.59) and Q1 EPS 1.760–1.830 (vs. ~1.57), which signals confidence in underlying business momentum. Qualys Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Board authorized a $200M increase to the share repurchase program — a capital return that reduces float and supports EPS. Qualys Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: Wedbush reaffirmed an Outperform rating and $155 price target, implying substantial upside versus current levels. Wedbush Reaffirms Outperform, $155 PT
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings call and presentation emphasize strategic initiatives, stronger channel sales and expanding margins — useful for longer-term thesis but less immediately market-moving than headline beats/guidance. Qualys Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the beat and upgraded guidance, the stock is down today on heavy volume and sits below its 50- and 200-day moving averages — suggesting short-term profit-taking, broader sector pressure or a market re-rating. (Trading stats and moving averages from market data released with the earnings updates.)

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.