Qualys Q2 Earnings Beat on Channel Strength, FY26 Guidance Raised

Qualys, Inc. QLYS reported second-quarter 2026 non-GAAP earnings of $1.98 per share, which rose 17.9% year over year and beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 11.24%. Revenues increased 11% to $182.2 million and surpassed the consensus mark of $179 million by 1.8%.

Results benefited from stronger partner-led execution and broader adoption of differentiated platform offerings. The net dollar expansion rate improved to 105% from 104% in the preceding quarter, signaling better upsell performance among existing customers.

Qualys topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 10.82%.

QLYS Gains From Partner-Led Growth

The channel accounted for 54% of total revenues, up from 49% in the year-ago quarter. Channel-partner revenues climbed 22% year over year, while direct revenues remained largely unchanged. The performance reflected Qualys’ continued emphasis on using partners to expand customer reach and support larger platform transactions.

International growth also outpaced the domestic business. Revenues outside the United States rose 15% compared with 8% growth in the United States. The geographic revenue mix remained 55% domestic and 45% international.

Qualys Broadens Its Platform Booking Mix

Enterprise TruRisk Management and CyberSecurity Asset Management together represented 12% of last-12-month total bookings, up from 9% a year earlier. The products also contributed 14% of new bookings versus 10% in the prior-year period.

Patch Management accounted for 9% of total bookings, up from 7%, and 16% of new bookings. TotalCloud remained at 5% of total bookings. Meanwhile, vulnerability management’s contribution declined to 49% from 54%, indicating a broader mix as customers adopted newer modules.

QLYS Advances Its AI-Native Risk Strategy

Qualys introduced InstaScan, powered by Agent Insta, to identify exposure findings within minutes of a vulnerability disclosure without requiring another scan. Findings can then move to Agent Val for exploit validation and immediate risk quantification.

The company also outlined autonomous remediation capabilities that select patches, controlled deployments or compensating controls based on asset risk. Management said live benchmarking reduced the exposure window from 21 days to minutes and automatically patched 60% of vulnerabilities.

Qualys Expands Security for AI Workloads

TotalAI 2.0 extends visibility across employee AI activity, models, services, code and runtime environments. New capabilities are designed to uncover shadow AI usage and identify AI workloads operating across hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructure.

The platform also added posture-management coverage for Anthropic and OpenAI environments. It can evaluate Model Context Protocol tool exploits across more than 50 adversarial scenarios and prioritize AI-related risks through the TruRisk engine.

QLYS Sustains Strong Margin Performance

GAAP gross profit rose 12% year over year to $151.9 million, while the gross margin expanded to 83% from 82%. GAAP operating income advanced 20% to $61.9 million, with the operating margin improving to 34% from 31%.

Non-GAAP operating income increased 16% to $81.4 million, and the related margin widened to 45% from 43%. Adjusted EBITDA grew 14% to $83.8 million, representing a margin of 46% compared with 45% a year ago.

Qualys Generates Cash and Returns Capital

The company ended the second quarter with cash and marketable securities of $703.5 million. Operating cash flow surged 77% year over year to $59.6 million in the second quarter, representing 33% of revenues. Free cash flow totaled $55.9 million, with a margin of 31%. For the first six months of 2026, free cash flow reached $149.5 million, and the margin was 42%.

During the quarter, Qualys spent $76.8 million to repurchase 797,000 shares. The company had $229.8 million remaining under its share repurchase authorization at quarter-end.

QLYS Raises Its 2026 Guidance

Management increased its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to $732-$738 million from $721-$727 million. The updated range implies growth of 9-10%. Non-GAAP earnings are now projected between $7.74 and $7.88 per share, up from the prior forecast of $7.44-$7.65.

For the third quarter, Qualys expects revenues of $185.5-$187.5 million, calling for 9-10% year-over-year growth. Non-GAAP earnings are projected in the range of $1.91-$1.98 per share. Management continues to expect an adjusted EBITDA margin in the mid-40% range and a free cash flow margin in the low-40% range for 2026.

QLYS’ Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Qualys currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector are AppFolio APPF, Amkor Technology AMKR and Amphenol APH, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Shares of AppFolio have plunged 14.2% year to date. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AppFolio’s 2026 earnings is pegged at $6.90 per share, up by 2.2% over the past 30 days, indicating an increase of 30.4% year over year.

Shares of Amkor Technology have jumped 41.5% year to date. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Amkor Technology’s 2026 earnings is pegged at $2.62 per share, up by 17.5% over the past seven days, implying a rise of 74.7% year over year.

Amphenol shares have rallied 26.8% year to date. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Amphenol’s 2026 earnings is pegged at $5.25 per share, up by 7.8% over the past seven days, indicating an increase of 57.2% year over year.

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