Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.14 EPS

Key Points

• Qualys reported a quarterly EPS of $1.95 versus estimates of $1.81 (a $0.14 beat) and revenue of $175.6M (up ~10% YoY), and raised FY2026 guidance to $7.44–$7.65 EPS with revenue guidance of $721–$727M; adjusted EBITDA margin was 47%, free cash flow $93.6M, and the company repurchased $53.9M of stock.
• Product strategy: Qualys announced Agent Val is generally available and positioned its new ETM platform as an AI-native risk operations center combining exploit validation and autonomous remediation, with early traction—ETM/CSAM cohort net dollar retention was 107% and ETM/CSAM accounted for ~11% of LTM bookings.
• Management flagged risks, noting guidance assumes no material change in overall NRR and warning that longer sales cycles and higher sales & marketing spend could delay visible uplift from ETM, potentially muting near-term NRR and new-logo momentum.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) released its earnings results on Tuesday. The software maker reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.81 by $0.14, FiscalAI reports. The company had revenue of $175.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $173.66 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.65% and a net margin of 29.64%.Qualys's quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.67 EPS. Qualys updated its FY 2026 guidance to 7.440-7.650 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance to 1.730-1.800 EPS.

Here are the key takeaways from Qualys' conference call:

• Qualys announced Agent Val is generally available and positioned its ETM (Enterprise TruRisk Management) platform as an AI-native ROC that combines exploit validation, autonomous remediation (TruRisk Eliminate / Agent Sarah) and an AI patch‑reliability score, which management says differentiates the company in a rising frontier‑AI threat environment.
• Financially the quarter was solid — revenue grew 10% to $175.6 million, adjusted EBITDA margin was 47%, EPS was $1.95, free cash flow was $93.6 million, the company repurchased $53.9 million of stock, and FY2026 revenue and EPS guidance were raised slightly to $721–727M and $7.44–7.65.
• Early commercial traction for ETM is visible — the ETM/CSAM cohort’s net dollar expansion rate was 107% and ETM/CSAM made up ~11% of LTM bookings, while channel contribution rose to 52% of revenue — but management emphasizes ETM adoption is still in early stages.
• Management cautioned on macro and adoption risks — guidance assumes no material change in overall NRR, sales cycles and higher sales & marketing spend may delay visible uplift from ETM, leaving near‑term NRR and new‑logo momentum potentially muted.

Qualys Price Performance

QLYS stock traded down $0.35 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $92.14. 816,322 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 971,907. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.25 billion, a PE ratio of 16.94 and a beta of 0.58. Qualys has a 52 week low of $74.51 and a 52 week high of $155.47. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $89.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $118.04.

Insider Activity at Qualys

In other Qualys news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 6,799 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.46, for a total value of $873,399.54. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 88,489 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,367,296.94. The trade was a 7.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 6,964 shares of company stock valued at $889,923. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Qualys

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Strive Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Qualys in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of Qualys by 204.3% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 213 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Qualys in the 3rd quarter valued at about $57,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 55.7% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 481 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 74.2% in the 4th quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 547 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on QLYS. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on Qualys from $140.00 to $134.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Qualys in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Zacks Research downgraded Qualys from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Qualys from $139.00 to $135.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a "hold" rating on shares of Qualys in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $137.77.

Qualys Company Profile

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.

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