Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Shares Up 7.1% - What's Next?

Key Points

• Qualys stock rose 7.1% intraday to $87.84 on Tuesday, with 306,605 shares traded — about 58% below its average daily volume.
• The company beat Q4 estimates with $1.87 EPS versus $1.78 expected and $175.3M revenue (+10.1% YoY), and issued Q1 2026 guidance of $1.760–1.830 EPS and FY2026 guidance of $7.170–7.450 EPS.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: MarketBeat shows an average rating of "Hold" with a consensus target of $140.46, while individual firms have issued ratings ranging from Strong Buy to Sell and trimmed some price targets.

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 7.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $88.00 and last traded at $87.8380. 306,605 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 732,489 shares. The stock had previously closed at $82.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on QLYS. Weiss Ratings cut Qualys from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial restated a "hold" rating and issued a $120.00 price target (down from $130.00) on shares of Qualys in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Zacks Research cut Qualys from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Qualys in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $140.46.

Qualys Trading Up 6.0%

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $93.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $120.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.97 and a beta of 0.62.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.65% and a net margin of 29.64%.The firm had revenue of $175.28 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $173.18 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.60 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. Qualys has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.760-1.830 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.170-7.450 EPS. Research analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Qualys

In other Qualys news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 6,799 shares of the firm'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 directly 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 10,378 shares of company stock valued at $1,352,964. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 62.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 125,636 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $16,769,000 after purchasing an additional 48,267 shares in the last quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Qualys during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $80,820,000. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in Qualys by 26.3% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 87,217 shares of the software maker's stock worth $11,541,000 after purchasing an additional 18,164 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Qualys by 748.6% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 31,346 shares of the software maker's stock worth $4,148,000 after purchasing an additional 27,652 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH increased its holdings in shares of Qualys by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 208,832 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $27,754,000 after acquiring an additional 18,711 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.