Verisign Inc. (VRSN) Tops Q4 EPS by 9c

Verisign Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) reported Q4 EPS of $1.38, $0.09 better than the analyst estimate of $1.29. Revenue for the quarter came in at $320.28 million versus the consensus estimate of $320.35 million.

Financial Highlights

• Verisign ended 2020 with cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities of $1.17 billion, a decrease of $51 million from year-end 2019.
• Cash flow from operations was $195 million for the fourth quarter of 2020 and $730 million for the full year of 2020 compared with $194 million for the same quarter in 2019 and $754 million for the full year 2019.
• Deferred revenues as of Dec. 31, 2020, totaled $1.06 billion, an increase of $29 million from year-end 2019.
• During the fourth quarter of 2020, Verisign repurchased 0.8 million shares of its common stock for $170 million. During the full year of 2020, Verisign repurchased 3.7 million shares of its common stock for $735 million.
• Effective Feb. 11, 2021 the Board of Directors approved an additional authorization for share repurchases of approximately $747 million of common stock, which brings the total amount to $1.0 billion authorized and available under Verisign’s share repurchase program, which has no expiration.

Business Highlights

• Verisign ended the fourth quarter of 2020 with 165.2 million .com and .net domain name registrations in the domain name base, a 4.0 percent increase from the end of the fourth quarter of 2019, and a net increase of 1.46 million registrations during the fourth quarter of 2020.
• In the fourth quarter of 2020, Verisign processed 10.5 million new domain name registrations for .com and .net, as compared to 10.3 million for the same quarter in 2019.
• The final .com and .net renewal rate was 73.7 percent for the third quarters of 2020 and 2019. Renewal rates are not fully measurable until 45 days after the end of the quarter.
• Verisign announces that it will increase the annual registry-level wholesale fee for each new and renewal .com domain name registration from $7.85 to $8.39, effective Sept. 1, 2021.

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Verisign Inc. (VRSN) click here.

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