Verisign (VRSN)
Information Technology · $27.4B market cap · SEC CIK 0001014473
fundamentals score out of 100
Next reports on Oct 21, 2026, with analysts expecting $2.46 in earnings per share.
The case for VRSN
- Generated $1.1B of free cash flow in FY2025, 64% of revenue.
- 50% of revenue drops through to net profit.
- Earns 58% a year on everything it owns (return on assets).
- Gross margin of 88% absorbs cost shocks.
- Moves less than the market (beta 0.67).
- Pays a modest 1.1% dividend.
The case against
- Pricey at 32.2× earnings, against a long-run market average nearer 20×.
- Priced at 16.0× sales, which leaves no room for a stumble.
- Owes more than it owns: shareholder equity is -$2.2B, usually the result of buybacks funded with debt. ROE and price-to-book mean little here.
- Current liabilities exceed current assets (ratio 0.59).
- Revenue growth of +6.9% is slower than 90% of Information Technology companies.
What the score is made of
Each factor is half a curve over reported figures and half a rank among the other Information Technology companies (momentum is judged against fixed thresholds only), and the five are blended by weight. It describes the last filing and the current price. It is not a forecast.
| Valuewhat you pay for the earnings, sales, assets and cash | 44 |
|---|---|
| Growthhow fast revenue and earnings are moving, this year and over five | 35 |
| Profitabilityhow much of the revenue becomes profit, and how much of that is cash | 94 |
| Momentumhow the price has behaved lately | 75 |
| Stabilityhow violently it moves, what it owes and what it pays you | 49 |
- Shareholder equity is negative, so return on equity, price-to-book and debt-to-equity are left out.
- Each factor except momentum is half fixed thresholds, half rank among the 73 Information Technology companies.
Key numbers
| Price / earnings | 32.2× |
|---|---|
| Price / book | n/m (negative equity) |
| Price / sales | 16.0× |
| Revenue growth (YoY) | +6.9% |
| EPS growth (YoY) | +9.8% |
| Gross margin | 88% |
| Operating margin | 68% |
| Net margin | 50% |
| Return on assets | 58.3% (ROE not meaningful: negative equity) |
| Debt / equity | n/m (negative equity) |
| Current ratio | 0.59 |
| Dividend yield | 1.10% |
| Beta | 0.67 |
| 52-week range | $208.86 – $312.48 |
| Position in that range | 87% of the way up |
| 3-month return | +16.5% |
| 1-year return | +9.2% |
Five years of financials, as filed
Pulled from Verisign's XBRL filings on SEC EDGAR. Italic rows are derived from the rows above.
| FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.7B | $1.6B | $1.5B | $1.4B | $1.3B |
| Operating income | $1.1B | $1.1B | $1.0B | $943M | $867M |
| Net income | $826M | $786M | $818M | $674M | $785M |
| Operating cash flow | $1.1B | $903M | $854M | $831M | $807M |
| Capital expenditure | $22.8M | $28.1M | $45.8M | $27.4M | $53.0M |
| Total assets | $1.3B | $1.4B | $1.7B | $1.7B | $2.0B |
| Total liabilities | $3.5B | $3.4B | $3.3B | $3.3B | $3.2B |
| Shareholder equity | -$2.2B | -$2.0B | -$1.6B | -$1.6B | -$1.3B |
| Cash | $308M | $207M | $240M | $374M | $224M |
| Free cash flow | $1.1B | $875M | $808M | $804M | $754M |
| Operating margin | 67.7% | 67.9% | 67.0% | 66.2% | 65.3% |
| Net margin | 49.8% | 50.4% | 54.8% | 47.3% | 59.1% |
| Diluted shares | 93.8M | 98.2M | 104M | 108M | 112M |
Share count is down 16.4% over 4 years. Buybacks have been shrinking the pie.
What Verisign says it does
Overview We are a global provider of critical internet infrastructure and domain name registry services, enabling internet navigation for many of the world’s most recognized domain names. We help enable the security, stability, and resiliency of the Domain Name System ("DNS") and the internet by providing Root Zone Maintainer services, operating two of the thirteen global internet root servers, and providing registration services and authoritative resolution for the . com and . net top-level domains ("TLDs"), which support the majority of global e-commerce. We were incorporated in Delaware on April 12, 1995. Our principal executive offices are located at 12061 Bluemont Way, Reston, Virginia 20190. Our telephone number at that address is (703) 948-3200. Our common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol VRSN. VERISIGN, the VERISIGN logo, and certain other product or service names are registered or…
Risk factors VRSN lists in its 10-K
- Cybersecurity and Technology Risk Factors
- We may introduce undetected or unknown defects into our systems or services, which could materially harm our business and harm our vendors or our customers
- We could encounter system interruptions or system failures resulting from activities beyond our direct control that could materially harm our business
- We face risks from the operation of the root server system and our performance of the Root Zone Maintainer functions under the RZMA
- Contractual, Regulatory, Legal and Compliance Risk Factors
- Any loss or modification of our right to operate the
- gTLDs could have a material adverse impact on our business and result in loss of revenues
- Changes or challenges to the pricing provisions in the
- Registry Agreement could have a material adverse impact on our business
- New laws, regulations, directives or ICANN policies that require us to obtain and maintain personal information of registrants of domain names in the
- gTLDs could impose material compliance costs and could create new, material legal and other risks to our business
- Our international operations expose us and our business to additional economic, legal, regulatory and political risks that could have a material adverse impact on our revenues and business
- Changes in, or interpretations of, tax rules and regulations or our tax positions may materially and adversely affect our income taxes
- Our business faces risks arising from ICANN’s consensus and temporary policies, technical standards and other processes