FOSTER CITY, Calif., — February 7, 2024 — Qualys, Inc (NASDAQ: QLYS), a pioneer and leading provider of disruptive cloud-based IT, security and compliance solutions, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2023. For the quarter, the Company reported revenues of $144.6 million, net income under United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”) of $40.6 million, non-GAAP net income of $52.8 million, Adjusted EBITDA of $65.8 million, GAAP net income per diluted share of $1.08, and non-GAAP net income per diluted share of $1.40.

“In 2023, we continued to execute against our strategic vision of helping organizations consolidate security tools on a natively integrated platform to measure, communicate, and eliminate cyber risk,” said Sumedh Thakar, president and CEO of Qualys. “Our financial results, growing scale, and increased module adoption demonstrate customers are starting to leverage the breadth and depth of the Qualys Enterprise TruRisk Platform to transform their security stack for transparent risk assessment, measurable business results, and lower TCO. Looking ahead, we believe we’re well positioned as the fundamental risk management platform for the future and remain committed to further advancing our position in the market with a balanced approach to growth and profitability.”

Fourth Quarter 2023 Financial Highlights

Revenues: Revenues for the fourth quarter of 2023 increased by 10% to $144.6 million compared to $130.8 million for the same quarter in 2022.

Gross Profit: GAAP gross profit for the fourth quarter of 2023 increased by 14% to $117.4 million compared to $103.1 million for the same quarter in 2022. GAAP gross margin was 81% for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to 79% for the same quarter in 2022. Non-GAAP gross profit for the fourth quarter of 2023 increased by 14% to $120.2 million compared to $105.7 million for the same quarter in 2022. Non-GAAP gross margin was 83% for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to 81% for the same quarter in 2022.

Operating Income: GAAP operating income for the fourth quarter of 2023 increased by 35% to $41.5 million compared to $30.7 million for the same quarter in 2022. As a percentage of revenues, GAAP operating income was 29% for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to 23% for the same quarter in 2022. Non-GAAP operating income for the fourth quarter of 2023 increased by 28% to $60.8 million compared to $47.4 million for the same quarter in 2022. As a percentage of revenues, non-GAAP operating income was 42% for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to 36% for the same quarter in 2022.

Net Income: GAAP net income for the fourth quarter of 2023 increased by 43% to $40.6 million, or $1.08 per diluted share, compared to $28.3 million, or $0.74 per diluted share, for the same quarter in 2022. As a percentage of revenues, GAAP net income was 28% for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to 22% for the same quarter in 2022. Non-GAAP net income for the fourth quarter of 2023 was $52.8 million, or $1.40 per diluted share, compared to $38.9 million, or $1.01 per diluted share, for the same quarter in 2022. As a percentage of revenues, non-GAAP net income was 37% for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to 30% for the same quarter in 2022.

Adjusted EBITDA: Adjusted EBITDA (a non-GAAP financial measure) for the fourth quarter of 2023 increased by 20% to $65.8 million compared to $55.1 million for the same quarter in 2022. As a percentage of revenues, Adjusted EBITDA was 46% for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to 42% for the same quarter in 2022.

Operating Cash Flow: Operating cash flow for the fourth quarter of 2023 decreased by 23% to $33.8 million compared to $43.8 million for the same quarter in 2022. As a percentage of revenues, operating cash flow was 23% for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to 34% for the same quarter in 2022.

Fourth Quarter 2023 Business Highlights

• Showcased the Company’s innovation and leadership to more than 500 customers and partners at its annual Qualys Security Conference (QSC) in Orlando, Florida.
• Announced the results of a Return on Investment (ROI) study conducted by leading analyst firm IDC, which found organizations achieved $5.1M per year in benefits from leveraging Qualys and a three-year ROI of 403%.
• Qualys released small-to-medium sized business (SMBs) and small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) offerings of Qualys’ VMDR with TruRisk, Patch Management and Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) for the AWS Marketplace.

Full Year 2023 Financial Highlights

Revenues: Revenues for 2023 increased by 13% to $554.5 million compared to $489.7 million for 2022.

Gross Profit: GAAP gross profit for 2023 increased by 16% to $447.0 million compared to $386.9 million for 2022. GAAP gross margin was 81% for 2023 compared to 79% in 2022. Non-GAAP gross profit increased by 15% to $457.3 million for 2023 compared to $397.6 million for 2022. Non-GAAP gross margin was 82% in 2023 compared to 81% in 2022.

Operating Income: GAAP operating income for 2023 was $163.1 million compared to $130.5 million for 2022. As a percentage of revenues, GAAP operating income was 29% for 2023 compared to 27% for 2022. Non-GAAP operating income for 2023 was $235.2 million compared to $189.6 million for 2022. As a percentage of revenues, non-GAAP operating income was 42% for 2023 compared to 39% for 2022.

Net Income: GAAP net income for 2023 increased by 40% to $151.6 million, or $4.03 per diluted share, compared to $108.0 million, or $2.74 per diluted share for 2022. As a percentage of revenues, GAAP net income was 27% for 2023 compared to 22% for 2022. Non-GAAP net income for 2023 was $198.1 million, or $5.27 per diluted share, compared to non-GAAP net income of $146.5 million, or $3.72 per diluted share for 2022. As a percentage of revenues, non-GAAP net income was 36% for 2023 compared to 30% for 2022.

Adjusted EBITDA: Adjusted EBITDA (a non-GAAP financial measure) for 2023 increased by 19% to $259.1 million compared to $218.6 million for 2022. As a percentage of revenues, Adjusted EBITDA was 47% for 2023 compared to 45% for 2022.

Operating Cash Flow: Operating cash flow for 2023 was $244.6 million compared to $198.9 million for 2022. As a percentage of revenues, operating cash flow was 44% for 2023 compared to 41% for 2022.

Full Year 2023 Business Highlights

Market Recognition

• Qualys’ VMDR was recognized by SC Awards Europe as the best vulnerability management solution, and peer review site G2 named Qualys’ VMDR the top Risk-based vulnerability product in its summer 2023 G2 Grid Report.
• CRN recognized Qualys as a leader in its 2023 Cloud 100 list for relentless innovation in cloud-based technology development.
• The Qualys Threat Research Unit (TRU) has received prestigious Pwnie award nominations for work on RenderDoc, marking the fifth consecutive year of recognition for their exceptional contributions to cybersecurity research.

Products & Features

• Unveiled the Qualys Enterprise TruRisk Management platform to provide a unified view of cyber risk, empowering customers to bring security and vulnerability findings from third-party security solutions into the Qualys platform.
• Unified Cloud Workload Protection (CWP), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR), Infrastructure as Code (IaC), and Container Security and brought an organically integrated agent and agentless TotalCloud Cloud Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) solution to market.
• Introduced GovCloud, a FedRAMP Ready (High Impact Level) vulnerability and patch management platform that comprehensively meets Executive Orders and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) compliance and helps federal agencies improve their security posture.
• Harnessed technology from our acquisition of Blue Hexagon and extended our cloud-scale deep learning Artificial Intelligence (AI) to discover and identify relationships and patterns within our own highly integrated data lake that are invisible and undetectable in traditional signature-based solutions.
• Introduced Qualys’ First-Party Software Risk Management, to enable application security teams to detect, prioritize and remediate vulnerabilities within company-developed software and embedded open-source components.

Business Developments

• The inaugural Qualys Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report was launched to showcase the company’s robust adherence to responsible business practices and sustainable operations.
• The relationship between Qualys and Cowbell was expanded as Cowbell added Qualys’ External Attack Surface Management (EASM) real-time intelligence feed to access clients’ risk posture.
• Expanded Qualys VMDR offering with new packages for small enterprises and small/medium businesses to offer simple, easy-to-deploy, all-inclusive security solutions to manage, remediate and protect against cyber threats and reduce risk.
• Launched Qualys’ inaugural 2023 TruRisk Research Report, offering a reliable resource for security practitioners seeking data-driven, real-world, and actionable perspectives on vulnerabilities and trends critical to organizations across all industries and sizes.
• Mazars integrated Qualys’ cybersecurity solutions into its Cybersecurity Managed Services offering to empower customers with unprecedented insights into their risk postures with integrated vulnerability detection, prioritization and remediation capabilities.
• Demonstrated the company’s cutting-edge innovation and industry leadership to over 1,000 participants during the Qualys Security Conferences held throughout the year in Orlando, Florida, London and Munich.
• Launched a virtual thought leadership Cyber Risk Series holding three events in 2023 with more than 3,500 attendees offering insightful content on PCI DSS and compliance, reducing risk and attack surface management.

Financial Performance Outlook

Based on information as of today, February 7, 2024, Qualys is issuing the following financial guidance for the first quarter and full year fiscal 2024. The Company emphasizes that the guidance is subject to various important cautionary factors referenced in the sections entitled “Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” below.

First Quarter 2024 Guidance: Management expects revenues for the first quarter of 2024 to be in the range of $144.5 million to $146.5 million, representing 11% to 12% growth over the same quarter in 2023. GAAP net income per diluted share is expected to be in the range of $0.84 to $0.92, which assumes an effective income tax rate of 22%. Non-GAAP net income per diluted share is expected to be in the range of $1.27 to $1.35, which assumes a non-GAAP effective income tax rate of 21%. First quarter 2024 net income per diluted share estimates are based on approximately 37.9 million weighted average diluted shares outstanding for the quarter.

Full Year 2024 Guidance: Management expects revenues for the full year of 2024 to be in the range of $600.0 million to $610.0 million, representing 8% to 10% growth over 2023. GAAP net income per diluted share is expected to be in the range of $3.11 to $3.43. This assumes an effective income tax rate of 22%. Non-GAAP net income per diluted share is expected to be in the range of $4.95 to $5.27. This assumes a non-GAAP effective income tax rate of 21%. Full year 2024 net income per diluted share estimates are based on approximately 37.9 million weighted average diluted shares outstanding.

Qualys has not reconciled non-GAAP net income per diluted share guidance to GAAP net income per diluted share guidance because Qualys does not provide guidance on the various reconciling cash and non-cash items between GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income (i.e., stock-based compensation, amortization of intangible assets from acquisitions and non-recurring items). The actual dollar amount of reconciling items in the first quarter and full year 2024 is likely to have a significant impact on the Company’s GAAP net income per diluted share in the first quarter and full year 2024. A reconciliation of the non-GAAP net income per diluted share guidance to the GAAP net income per diluted share guidance is not available without unreasonable effort.

Investor Conference Call

Qualys will host a conference call and live webcast to discuss its fourth quarter and full year 2023 financial results at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (2:00 p.m. Pacific Time) on Wednesday, February 7, 2024. To access the conference call by phone, please register here. A live webcast of the earnings conference call, investor presentation and prepared remarks can be accessed at https://investor.qualys.com/events-presentations. A replay of the conference call will be available through the same webcast link following the end of the call.

Investor Contact

Blair King
Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Development
(650) 801-6299
[email protected]