VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) reported Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Results. Verisign ended the fourth quarter of 2022 with 173.8 million .com and .net domain name registrations in the domain name base, a 0.2 percent increase from the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, and a net decrease of 0.4 million registrations during the fourth quarter of 2022.
Of particular note to domain name investors they announced another price hike.
They will increase the annual registry-level wholesale fee for each new and renewed .com from $8.97 to $9.59, effective Sept. 1, 2023.
Fourth Quarter Financial Results
VeriSign, Inc. and subsidiaries (“Verisign”) reported revenue of $369 million for the fourth quarter of 2022, up 8.5 percent from the same quarter in 2021. The operating margin was 66.5 percent for the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to 65.3 percent for the same quarter of 2021. Verisign reported net income of $179 million and diluted earnings per share (diluted “EPS”) of $1.70 for the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to net income of $330 million and diluted EPS of $2.97 for the same quarter in 2021. Net income for the fourth quarter of 2021 included recognition of a deferred income tax benefit related to the transfer of certain non-US intellectual property between subsidiaries which increased net income by $165.5 million and increased diluted EPS by $1.49.
Financial Highlights
- Verisign ended 2022 with cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities of $980 million, a decrease of $225 million from year-end 2021.
- Cash flow from operations was $217 million for the fourth quarter of 2022 and $831 million for the full year of 2022 compared with $206 million for the same quarter in 2021 and $807 million for the full year of 2021.
- Deferred revenues as of Dec. 31, 2022, totaled $1.22 billion, an increase of $66 million from year-end 2021.
- During the fourth quarter of 2022, Verisign repurchased 1.1 million shares of its common stock for $212 million. During the full year of 2022, Verisign repurchased 5.5 million shares of its common stock for $1.03 billion. As of Dec. 31, 2022, there was $859 million remaining for future share repurchases under the share repurchase program which has no expiration date.
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