D.A. Davidson Raises Qualys' Price Target To $27

Qualys Inc (NASDAQ: QLYS) reported its revenue and EPS ahead of expectations. DA Davidson’s Jack Andrews maintained a Neutral rating for the company, while raising the price target from $25 to $27. The analyst commented that Qualys seems to be making significant progress in building a “deeper and broader team” and that the company’s upsell opportunities were increasing.

Qualys reported revenue of $46.3 million, ahead of the DA Davidson estimate of $44.8 million and consensus expectation of $45.1 million. Even after excluding the benefit from a shift in revenue to 1Q, due to a new arrangement with a Managed Security Service Provider, the company would have recorded 21 percent y/y revenue growth, analyst Jack Andrews noted.

Non-GAAP EPS came in at $0.21, beating the DA Davidson and Street estimates of $0.15. The company missed the billings expectations, reporting $48.3 million, versus the Street estimate of $51.6 million.

Qualys announced its 2Q16 guidance broadly in-line with expectations and reiterated its FY16 guidance. Management guided to 2Q16 revenue of $47.6-$48.3 million and EPS of $0.15-$0.17. Andrews raised the revenue and non-GAAP EPS estimates for FY16 from $196.5 million to $198.6 million and from $0.76 to $0.81, respectively.

New CFO Announced

Qualys announced the appointment of Melissa Fisher as its new CFO. Fisher has 20 years of finance experience, having worked in companies like Zynga, Digital River and various investment banks.

Positives

Andrews mentioned that he was “incrementally encouraged on two fronts.” He elaborated that Qualys appeared to be “making meaningful progress building out a deeper and broader team, which we think is necessary to target larger, strategic engagements.” The analyst added that the potential upsell opportunities within the company’s install base had increased, with the recent product launches.