Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Updates FY 2026 Earnings Guidance

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) issued an update on its FY 2026 earnings guidance on Tuesday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 7.740-7.880 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of 7.160. The company issued revenue guidance of $732.0 million-$738.0 million, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $724.6 million. Qualys also updated its Q3 2026 guidance to 1.910-1.980 EPS.

Qualys Trading Up 4.0%

QLYS stock traded up $6.17 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $161.06. The stock had a trading volume of 1,043,207 shares, compared to its average volume of 766,003. The firm has a market cap of $5.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.92 and a beta of 0.60. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $129.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $110.80. Qualys has a 1-year low of $74.51 and a 1-year high of $167.86.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The software maker reported $1.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $175.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $173.63 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.15% and a net margin of 29.41%.The business’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.67 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Qualys will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on QLYS. Wedbush dropped their price target on Qualys from $155.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen cut Qualys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley set a $96.00 target price on Qualys in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Qualys from $139.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, William Blair downgraded shares of Qualys from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Qualys currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $142.53.

Insider Activity

In other Qualys news, Director Wendy Pfeiffer sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.19, for a total transaction of $79,095.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 12,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,931,499.90. The trade was a 3.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 965 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.44, for a total value of $138,419.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 81,215 shares in the company, valued at $11,649,479.60. This represents a 1.17% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 75,228 shares of company stock worth $9,457,674. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Key Qualys News

Here are the key news stories impacting Qualys this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 results exceeded expectations. Qualys reported revenue of $182.2 million, up 11% year over year and above the $178.6 million consensus estimate. Adjusted EPS of $1.98 surpassed analyst expectations of $1.78, while adjusted EBITDA reached $83.8 million. Qualys Announces Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised full-year guidance. Qualys now expects 2026 revenue of $732 million to $738 million, up from its prior range of $721 million to $727 million. The company also increased GAAP and non-GAAP earnings guidance, with its new EPS range of $7.74 to $7.88 above the $7.16 consensus estimate. Qualys Jumps After Strong Q2 Results and Higher 2026 Outlook
• Positive Sentiment: Third-quarter guidance also topped estimates. Qualys forecast revenue of $185.5 million to $187.5 million and EPS of $1.91 to $1.98, both ahead of Wall Street expectations. Management cited AI-related security offerings, Risk Operations Center adoption, federal demand, partner execution and early QFlex engagement as growth drivers. Qualys Q2 2026 Press Release
• Neutral Sentiment: New product launches support the growth narrative. Qualys recently introduced InstaScan, an AI-powered capability designed to identify vulnerabilities shortly after disclosure by using existing asset and threat telemetry. Qualys Launches InstaScan
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling and cautious coverage remain risks. Quiver Quantitative reported no insider purchases and 54 insider sales over the past six months. JPMorgan has an Underweight rating, while the median reported analyst price target is $125, below recent trading levels, although targets range as high as $190. Qualys Insider and Analyst Activity

Institutional Trading of Qualys

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Qualys by 1.8% in the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 5,027 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $665,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in Qualys by 4.6% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,038 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Qualys by 3.7% during the third quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,239 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $429,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its position in Qualys by 4.9% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,818 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $403,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in Qualys by 204.3% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 213 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the period. 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.