Key Highlights

  • Revenue rose 5.7% to USD 443 million; Operating Income rose 4.2% to USD 296 million.
  • The .com and .net base reached 182.5 million names, up 6.1% year over year.
  • Diluted Earnings were USD 2.35 per share, including a USD 7.5 million pretax operating loss.
  • Full-year domain base growth guidance was raised to 6.5% to 7%.

Quarter Results

Verisign (NASDAQ:VRSN) reported third-quarter 2026 results on Thursday. Revenue was USD 443 million, up 5.7% year over year, and operating income was USD 296 million, up 4.2%. Diluted Earnings per Share were USD 2.35, which the company said included a USD 0.06 reduction tied to a pretax operating loss of USD 7.5 million on certain Assets held for sale.

Operating cash flow was USD 268 million against USD 308 million a year earlier, mainly on higher cash taxes, and free cash flow was USD 261 million against USD 303 million. Deferred revenues were USD 1.46 billion, up USD 79 million from the end of 2025. Cash and marketable securities were USD 476 million, down USD 104 million from year end.

Domain Base and Renewals

The .com and .net domain name base reached 182.5 million registrations, up 6.1% year over year. New registrations totaled 13.1 million, and net additions to the base were 3.36 million. CEO Jim Bidzos linked the record registration Volume to new Business starts, registrar Marketing programs, and AI tools that make content and website creation faster.

The estimated third-quarter renewal rate was 74.3%, against 75.4% a year earlier, a decline the company attributed to a higher mix of first-time renewing names. The final second-quarter rate was 75.2%, against 75.5%. The chief financial officer said first-time renewals held in the mid-40% range while previously renewed names stayed in the mid-80% range.

Guidance and Pricing

Full-year revenue is guided at USD 1.755 billion to USD 1.760 billion and operating income at USD 1.188 billion to USD 1.192 billion, including the third-quarter asset loss. Domain base growth guidance was raised to 6.5% to 7%. Other guided items are capital expenditures of USD 55 million to USD 65 million, net interest and nonoperating expense of USD 59 million to USD 65 million, and an effective tax rate of 22% to 25%.

A .com price increase takes effect on Nov. 1, 2026, and management said about half of its revenue effect arrives in 2027.

New Products and Capital Returns

Management set out a timetable for the .web top-level domain: a 30-day sunrise period starting in mid-December 2026, followed by a limited registration period in mid-January 2027 in which .com registrants can apply for exact-match .web names. The Verisign Informed service, which answers whether a digital certificate has been revoked, is fully operational within the company's infrastructure. The company handles about 800 billion DNS queries a day.

Verisign repurchased 0.7 million shares for USD 189 million, leaving USD 1.36 billion under its authorization. The board approved a quarterly Dividend of USD 0.81 per share for holders of record on Nov. 17.

Next Datapoints

Revenue grew 5.7% while the domain base grew 6.1%, and operating income grew 4.2%, below both. Free cash flow of USD 261 million covered the USD 189 million of repurchases. Reference points are the fourth-quarter renewal rate, first-time renewal behavior, the share of the .com price increase that reaches 2027 revenue, the mid-December sunrise period for .web, and further asset sale activity.