Verisign ended 2017 with 146.4 million .com and .net domains (up 2.9%)

[JulienJ]

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2017.

Financial Highlights

• Verisign ended 2017 with cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $2.4 billion, an increase of $617 million from year-end 2016.
• Cash flow from operations was $199 million for the fourth quarter of 2017 and $703 million for the full year 2017 compared with $205 million for the same quarter in 2016 and $693 million for the full year 2016.
• Deferred revenues on Dec. 31, 2017, totaled $999 million, an increase of $24 million from year-end 2016.
• During the fourth quarter, Verisign repurchased 1.3 million shares of its common stock for $145 million. During the full year 2017, Verisign repurchased 6.3 million shares of its common stock for $593 million.
• Effective Feb. 8, 2018, the Board of directors approved an additional authorization for share repurchases of approximately $586 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.
• For purposes of calculating diluted EPS, the fourth quarter diluted share count included 25.2 million shares related to subordinated convertible debentures, compared with 20.6 million shares for the same quarter in 2016. These represent diluted shares and not shares that have been issued.

Business Highlights

• Verisign ended the fourth quarter with 146.4 million .com and .netdomain name registrations in the domain name base, a 2.9 percent increase from the end of the fourth quarter of 2016, and a net increase of 0.57 million during the fourth quarter of 2017.
• In the fourth quarter, Verisign processed 9.0 million new domain name registrations for .com and .net, as compared to 8.8 million for the same quarter in 2016.
• The final .com and .net renewal rate for the third quarter of 2017 was 74.4 percent compared with 73.0 percent for the same quarter in 2016. Renewal rates are not fully measurable until 45 days after the end of the quarter.

Complete report is available here