Earnings Preview: VeriSign

VeriSign (VRSN) is expected to report Q2 earnings after the bell Wednesday, Aug. 6, with a conference call scheduled for 5:00 pm ET.

Guidance

The consensus estimate is 23c for EPS and $231.39M for revenue, according to First Call.

Analyst Views

Deutsche Bank anticipates VeriSign to report Q2 results above its $231M in sales and 22c EPS forecasts, as the core DNS and SSL businesses appear to have had a solid Q2. They expect VeriSign to report .com/.net domain names in-line with its estimate of 87.7m (+20% YoY), representing net adds of 3.3M. While the macro-economic environment may be having some impact on overall Internet growth, Deutsche thinks the fundamental growth drivers of domain names remains largely intact. Separately on the SSL business, its estimates look for 1.067B certificates (+15.6% YoY) driven by continued adoption of premium priced EV certificates.

Key issues for the conference call: Deutsche expects an update on VeriSign's efforts to find a permanent CEO, a divestiture update as the company remains in the process of trying to sell its discontinued operations in three main bundles (Security, Messaging, Telecom) and expect reiteration of guidance.