Wedbush Brokers Raise Earnings Estimates for Qualys

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) – Research analysts at Wedbush raised their Q2 2025 earnings per share estimates for Qualys in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, May 7th. Wedbush analyst D. Ives now forecasts that the software maker will post earnings per share of $1.01 for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $0.97. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $145.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Qualys’ current full-year earnings is $3.85 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Qualys’ Q3 2025 earnings at $1.12 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $1.12 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $4.54 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $1.12 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $1.27 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $4.66 EPS.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $159.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $157.05 million. Qualys had a net margin of 28.59% and a return on equity of 38.52%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.45 earnings per share.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on QLYS. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Qualys from $145.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Qualys from $120.00 to $90.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Qualys from $122.00 to $117.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. StockNews.com raised Qualys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Finally, Scotiabank set a $142.00 price target on Qualys and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Qualys currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $137.50.

Qualys Trading Up 0.2%

QLYS opened at $136.75 on Monday. Qualys has a 1-year low of $112.61 and a 1-year high of $170.00. The stock has a market cap of $4.97 billion, a PE ratio of 29.41 and a beta of 0.61. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $125.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.35.

Institutional Trading of Qualys

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Qualys in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Qualys in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position in Qualys by 88.1% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 333 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Qualys during the fourth quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of Qualys by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 391 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Jeffrey P. Hank sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.93, for a total transaction of $515,720.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,633,027.38. The trade was a 24.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 525 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.48, for a total transaction of $73,227.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 65,373 shares in the company, valued at $9,118,226.04. The trade was a 0.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 26,669 shares of company stock worth $3,536,541 in the last quarter. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Qualys

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.