What To Expect From Qualys's (QLYS) Q1 Earnings

Cloud security and compliance software provider Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) will be reporting earnings tomorrow after the bell. Here's what investors should know.

Qualys met analysts' revenue expectations last quarter, reporting revenues of $144.6 million, up 10.5% year on year. It was a weaker quarter for the company, with management forecasting growth to slow and underwhelming revenue guidance for the next quarter.

Is Qualys a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it's free.

This quarter, analysts are expecting Qualys's revenue to grow 11.5% year on year to $145.8 million, slowing from the 15.2% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $1.31 per share.

The majority of analysts covering the company have reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. Qualys has only missed Wall Street's revenue estimates once over the last two years, exceeding top-line expectations by 0.7% on average.

Looking at Qualys's peers in the cybersecurity segment, only Tenable has reported results so far. It beat analysts' revenue estimates by 1.2%, delivering year-on-year sales growth of 14.4%. The stock traded up 0.4% on the results.

Read our full analysis of Tenable's earnings results here.

Valuation multiples for many growth stocks have not yet reverted to their early 2021 highs, but the market was optimistic at the end of 2023 thanks to cooling inflation. The start of 2024 has been a different story as mixed signals have led to market volatility, and while some of the cybersecurity stocks have fared somewhat better, they have not been spared, with share prices down 3.1% on average over the last month. Qualys is up 1.4% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $168 (compared to the current share price of $168.92).

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