Quarterly earnings results are a good time to check in on a company’s progress, especially compared to other peers in the same sector. Today we are looking at Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS), and the best and worst performers in the cybersecurity group.
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 9 cybersecurity stocks we track reported a weaker Q1; on average, revenues beat analyst consensus estimates by 0.65%, while on average next quarter revenue guidance was 1.16% under consensus. Tech stocks have been hit the hardest as investors start to value profits over growth, but cybersecurity stocks held their ground better than others, with the share prices up 3.47% since the previous earnings results, 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 $130.7 million, up 15.2% year on year, in line with analyst expectations. It was a decent quarter for the company, with revenue guidance for the next quarter roughly in line with Consensus, while the full-year guidance exceeded estimates.
"We are pleased to report another quarter of healthy revenue growth, strong profitability, and cash flow generation," said Sumedh Thakar, president and CEO.
The stock is up 21% since the results and currently trades at $131.01.
Is now the time to buy Qualys? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.
Best Q1: CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD)
Founded by George Kurtz, the former CTO of the antivirus company McAfee, CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) provides cybersecurity software that protects companies from breaches and helps them detect and respond to cyber attacks.
CrowdStrike reported revenues of $692.6 million, up 42% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 2.42%. Despite the stock dropping on the results, it was a decent quarter for the company, with a significant improvement in gross margin and revenue guidance for the next quarter ahead of expectations.
CrowdStrike delivered the strongest analyst estimates beat and highest full year guidance raise among its peers. The stock is down 3.19% since the results and currently trades at $154.91.
Is now the time to buy CrowdStrike? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.
Weakest 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 $133.4 million, up 70.5% year on year, missing analyst expectations by 2.36%. Despite the strong topline growth, it was a weak quarter for the company, with revenue guidance for the next quarter missing analysts' expectations.
SentinelOne delivered the fastest revenue growth but had the weakest performance against analyst estimates and weakest performance against analyst estimates in the group. The company added 12 enterprise customers paying more than $100,000 annually to a total of 917. The stock is down 21.8% since the results and currently trades at $16.22.
Read our full analysis of SentinelOne's results here.
Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS)
After successfully selling all four of his previous cybersecurity companies, Jay Chaudhry's fifth venture, Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) offers software as a service that helps companies securely connect to applications and networks in the cloud.
Zscaler reported revenues of $418.8 million, up 46% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 1.71%. It was a decent quarter for the company, with a solid beat of analyst estimates and strong revenue guidance for the next quarter.
The stock is up 14.2% since the results and currently trades at $154.25.
Read our full, actionable report on Zscaler here, it's free.
Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA)
Founded during the aftermath of the financial crisis in 2009, Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA) is a cloud-based software as a service platform that helps companies manage identity for their employees and customers.
Okta reported revenues of $518 million, up 24.8% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 1.43%. It was a decent quarter for the company, with optimistic revenue guidance for the next quarter.
The stock is down 16.8% since the results and currently trades at $75.75.
Read our full, actionable report on Okta here, it's free.
The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned