UPDATE: Wedbush Initiates Qualys on SaaS-based Security Services Outlook

In a report published on Tuesday, Wedbush analyst Sanjit Singh initiated coverage on

with an Outperform rating and a $20 price target. In the report, Wedbush stated, "We think Qualys will benefit from a transition away from on-premise appliances to SaaS-based security solutions for mature functions of the security market such as vulnerability management (VM), allowing it to grow in excess of the overall market. The greater opportunity, in our view, is to leverage Qualys's cloud-architected platform and broaden its portfolio to other areas of the security market that are candidates for disruption. We believe catalysts include a significant cross-sell opportunity; new products slated for release in 2H13 and contribution from strategic partnerships such Verizon and VCE in 2014 and beyond." Qualys closed on Tuesday at $16.37.