RESTON, Virginia, April 24, 2026, 18:07 EDT
- VeriSign’s first-quarter revenue and profit climbed, driven by a pickup in .com and .net registrations.
- The stock slid 2.8% Friday, despite an upgraded 2026 forecast from the company.
- Investors are sizing up the announced .com wholesale fee hike, factoring in potential pressure from renewal rates and registrar pricing risks.
Shares of VeriSign Inc. slid 2.8% to close at $269.20 on Friday, lagging behind the S&P 500, which finished higher. The move came after the internet infrastructure provider posted stronger first-quarter profit and revenue, raised some of its 2026 guidance, and said it plans to bump up wholesale .com domain prices later this year.
This one’s worth noting: VeriSign holds a critical spot in the internet’s plumbing, operating the main registry for .com and .net—the backbone that lets web addresses turn into actual locations online. Investors and analysts look at its performance numbers as a sort of proxy for how many new sites are getting built, how many small businesses might be popping up, and just how much digital traffic is out there.
First-quarter revenue landed at $429 million, a 6.6% gain from the same period last year. Operating income climbed to $294 million—up from $271 million. Net income totaled $215 million, or $2.34 per diluted share, compared to $199 million, or $2.10 a share, a year ago.
VeriSign’s CEO Jim Bidzos noted “steady growth in registrations and solid financial results,” highlighting the company’s flawless track record—100% uptime for .com and .net resolution. That reliability isn’t just a footnote; downtime here would disrupt big chunks of e-commerce. VeriSign, Inc.
Domain numbers drove the narrative this quarter. VeriSign wrapped up March with 176.1 million .com and .net domains on the books, marking a 3.7% climb from last year. New registrations hit 11.5 million for the quarter, up from 10.1 million the year prior.
The domain market kept expanding. According to DNIB.com, sponsored by VeriSign, domain name registrations hit 392.5 million at the end of the first quarter—a rise of 5.6 million from the prior quarter and 24.1 million above last year’s figure.
VeriSign plans to hike its annual registry-level wholesale fee for new and renewed .com domains to $10.97, up from $10.26, starting Nov. 1. That fee is what accredited registrars pay VeriSign—not the end price that website owners see.
During the earnings call, Bidzos highlighted that VeriSign saw solid demand in all three of its core regions, noting “most of the strength coming from the U.S. and EMEA.” Management mentioned registrar marketing efforts and AI-powered website tools as factors boosting growth, but Bidzos admitted it’s tough to disentangle those impacts. MarketBeat
The company bumped up and tightened its 2026 forecast for .com and .net domain-name-base growth, now seeing 3.1% to 4.3% instead of its previous 1.5% to 3.5% projection. Chief Financial Officer John Calys set full-year revenue guidance between $1.730 billion and $1.745 billion, with operating income expected in the $1.170 billion to $1.185 billion range.
Support wasn’t unanimous. Baird’s Robert Oliver stuck with his Outperform call and hiked his price target to $355, up from $305. JPMorgan’s Alexei Gogolev maintained a Neutral rating, nudging his target to $278 from $273, according to Benzinga.
Price and mix are a double-edged sword here. Calys pointed out that first-time renewals usually sit in the “mid-40% range,” well below the “mid-80% range” for domains that have been renewed before. She flagged a possible headwind: if there’s another surge in new registrations late in 2025, a wave of those first-timers could come due later this year, potentially dragging on renewal rates. Registrar reactions to the .com fee hike may also sway both new registrations and renewals. MarketBeat
The rivalry isn’t head-to-head, but it’s there. VeriSign runs the registry backbone for .com and .net. Out front, registrars like GoDaddy and Tucows, plus web-services outfits, are fighting for the end customer—pushing domains, hosting, add-ons. That leaves retail pricing tactics and customer grabs beyond VeriSign’s direct reach as the levers to watch in coming quarters.
Capital returns remained a focus. VeriSign bought back 0.9 million shares last quarter, spending $214 million. As of March 31, $863 million was still available under its share repurchase program. The company also declared a $0.81 per-share cash dividend, set for payment on May 27 to shareholders on record as of May 19.
The latest filing from the company flagged that interim results shouldn’t be read as a proxy for the entire year, with actual outcomes potentially diverging from forward-looking statements due to risks outlined in its annual and other SEC reports. The market zeroed in on something more immediate: stronger growth is encouraging, but investors are waiting to see if renewals in the domain base will hold up after the next .com price increase.
