The end of an earnings season can be a great time to assess how companies are handling the current business environment and discover new stocks. Let’s have a look at how Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) and the rest of the cybersecurity stocks fared in Q1.
Cybersecurity continues to be one of the fastest growing segments within software for good reason. Almost every company is slowly finding itself becoming a technology company and facing rising cybersecurity risks. Businesses are accelerating adoption of cloud based software, moving data and applications into the cloud to save costs while improving performance. This migration has opened them to a multitude of new threats, like employees accessing data via their smartphone while on an open network, or logging into a web-based interface from a laptop in a new location.
The 10 cybersecurity stocks we track reported a decent Q1; on average, revenues beat analyst consensus estimates by 3.72%, while on average next quarter revenue guidance was 2.04% above consensus. Tech stocks have been under pressure since the end of last year, but cybersecurity stocks held their ground better than others, with the share price up 6.3% since earnings, on average.
Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS)
Founded in 1999 as one of the first subscription security companies, Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) provides organizations with software to assess their exposure to cyber-attacks.
Qualys reported revenues of $113.4 million, up 17.2% year on year, in line with analyst expectations. It was an ok quarter for the company with slow revenue growth and guidance for the next quarter roughly in line with analysts' estimates.
"We had a great start to the year with continued revenue growth acceleration and strong cash flow generation," said Sumedh Thakar, president and CEO.
Qualys delivered the weakest performance against analyst estimates of the whole group. The stock is down 6.06% since the results and currently trades at $130.21.
Is now the time to buy Qualys? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.
Best Q1: SentinelOne (NYSE:S)
With roots in the Israeli cyber intelligence community, SentinelOne (NYSE:S) provides software to help organizations efficiently detect, prevent, and investigate cyber attacks.
SentinelOne reported revenues of $78.2 million, up 109% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 4.83%. It was a very strong quarter for the company, with a very optimistic guidance for the next quarter and an exceptional revenue growth.
SentinelOne scored the fastest revenue growth and highest full year guidance raise among its peers. The company added 71 enterprise customers paying more than $100,000 annually to a total of 591. The stock is up 7.14% since the results and currently trades at $26.39.
Is now the time to buy SentinelOne? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.
Slowest Q1: ForgeRock (NYSE:FORG)
Founded in Norway by former Sun Microsystems engineers, ForgeRock (NYSE:FORG) offers software as a service that helps companies secure and manage the identity of their customers and employees.
ForgeRock reported revenues of $48 million, up 13.4% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 3.35%. It was a weaker quarter for the company, with an underwhelming revenue guidance for the next quarter and a slow revenue growth.
ForgeRock had the slowest revenue growth and weakest full year guidance update in the group. The stock is up 52.9% since the results and currently trades at $21.88.
Read our full analysis of ForgeRock's results here.
Palo Alto Networks (NYSE:PANW)
Founded in 2005 by a cybersecurity engineer Nir Zuk, Palo Alto Networks makes hardware and software cybersecurity products that protect companies from cyberattacks, breaches and malware threats.
Palo Alto Networks reported revenues of $1.38 billion, up 29.1% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 2.03%. It was a mixed quarter for the company, with a strong top line growth but a decline in gross margin.
The stock is up 16.9% since the results and currently trades at $510.58.
Read our full, actionable report on Palo Alto Networks here, it's free.
Rapid7 (NASDAQ:RPD)
Founded in 2000 with the idea that network security comes before endpoint security, Rapid7 (NASDAQ:RPD) provides software as a service that helps companies understand where they are exposed to cyber security risks, quickly detect breaches and respond to them.
Rapid7 reported revenues of $157.3 million, up 33.9% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 2.1%. It was a mixed quarter for the company, with decelerating customer growth.
The company added 124 customers to a total of 10,407. The stock is down 22.9% since the results and currently trades at $73.01.
Read our full, actionable report on Rapid7 here, it's free.
The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned