Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Trading Down 8.6% – Time to Sell?

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) was down 8.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $121.00 and last traded at $116.8570. Approximately 139,369 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 434,913 shares. The stock had previously closed at $127.81.

Qualys News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Qualys this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat consensus: GAAP EPS $1.87 vs $1.78 expected and revenue $175.3M vs $173.2M; revenue grew ~10% year-over-year and margins expanded — a solid operating beat that supports longer-term growth thesis. Qualys Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised forward guidance well above consensus: Q1 EPS guide of $1.76–1.83 (vs ~1.57 consensus) and FY2026 EPS guide of $7.17–7.45 (vs ~6.59 consensus), plus revenue targets that generally track above estimates — a concrete catalyst for upside if they hit the plan. Q4/FY2025 Press Release / Slide Deck
• Positive Sentiment: Board increased the share repurchase program by $200M — a shareholder-friendly move that can support EPS and return capital. Share Repurchase Announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and a $155 price target (material upside vs recent levels), which underscores continued sell-side confidence. Wedbush Reaffirms Outperform
• Neutral Sentiment: Detailed call transcripts and presentations are available for due diligence — useful for parsing management commentary on product demand, channel trends and margin drivers. Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Stock sold off sharply today despite the beat and raised guidance — likely driven by profit-taking after a prior run-up, high-volume liquidation, and broader market/sector weakness; short-term momentum and technicals now look pressured. (Monitor next-day flows, any insider commentary, and execution against the raised guidance.)

Analyst Ratings Changes

QLYS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research lowered Qualys from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $150.00 price target on Qualys in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Qualys in a report on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Qualys from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Qualys from $140.00 to $134.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $140.71.

Qualys Trading Down 12.5%

The stock has a market cap of $4.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.71 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $137.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.30.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $173.18 million. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.40% and a net margin of 28.96%.Qualys’s quarterly revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.60 EPS. 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, analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 3,414 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.63, for a total transaction of $463,040.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 88,489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,001,763.07. This represents a 3.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,101 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.34, for a total transaction of $145,706.34. Following the transaction, the insider owned 68,598 shares in the company, valued at $9,078,259.32. The trade was a 1.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 37,628 shares of company stock valued at $5,343,650 in the last 90 days. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualys

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QLYS. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Qualys by 2.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 382,100 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $54,591,000 after acquiring an additional 10,359 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Qualys by 100.6% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 136,835 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $19,535,000 after purchasing an additional 68,632 shares during the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Qualys by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 545,380 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $77,918,000 after purchasing an additional 46,296 shares during the period. Willis Investment Counsel increased its position in shares of Qualys by 68.8% during the 2nd quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 23,611 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,373,000 after purchasing an additional 9,626 shares during the last quarter. Finally, denkapparat Operations GmbH purchased a new stake in Qualys in the 2nd quarter valued at about $300,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.