Stock Story -
Cloud security and compliance software provider Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) will be announcing earnings results tomorrow afternoon. Here's what to look for.
Qualys met analysts' revenue expectations last quarter, reporting revenues of $145.8 million, up 11.6% year on year. It was a weak quarter for the company, with underwhelming revenue guidance for the next quarter and a miss of analysts' billings estimates.
Is Qualys a buy or sell going into earnings? Find out by reading the original article on StockStory, it's free.
This quarter, analysts are expecting Qualys's revenue to grow 8.5% year on year to $148.8 million, slowing from the 14.4% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $1.32 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, some have already reported their Q2 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Tenable (NASDAQ:TENB) delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 13.4%, beating analysts' expectations by 1.2%, and Varonis (NASDAQ:VRNS) reported revenues up 12.9%, topping estimates by 4.4%. Tenable traded down 7.7% following the results while Varonis was up 14.7%.
Read the full analysis of Tenable's and Varonis's results on StockStory.
Stocks--especially those trading at higher multiples--had a strong end of 2023, but 2024 has seen periods of volatility. Mixed inflation signals have led to uncertainty around rate cuts, and while some of the cybersecurity stocks have fared somewhat better, they have not been spared, with share prices down 3.7% on average over the last month. Qualys is down 3.3% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $160.9 (compared to the current share price of $137.01).
