- VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN +3.8%) closed near $77 after beating Q4 estimates and reporting it added 4.6M net new domain names - up from Q3's 1.68M and Q4 2014's 0.59M, and bringing the total base to 139.8M (+6.3% Y/Y).
- The company also disclosed it has upped its buyback authorization by $611M, raising its available funds to $1B; that's good for repurchasing over 11% of shares at current levels. $150M was spent on buybacks in Q4, and $622M over the whole of 2015.
- A slightly soft 2016 outlook is being brushed off: On the earnings call (transcript), VeriSign guided for 2016 revenue of $1.11B-$1.135B (+5-7% Y/Y) vs. a $1.14B consensus. Op. margin is expected to rise to 62.5%-63.5% from 2015's 61.5%, and the capex budget has been set at $40M-$50M.
- 12.2M new domain names were processed vs. 9.2M in Q3 and 8.2M a year ago. CEO James Bidzos attributed the Q4 domain name strength to Chinese/Asia-Pac demand - Chinese domain name investment/speculation has surged in recent months. Bidzos: "While we believe China and the Asia-Pacific region will continue to perform well, we expect these markets to return to more normal levels in 2016."
- Non-GAAP operating expenses fell by $1M Y/Y to $103M. For the whole of 2015, free cash flow rose 11% to $629M (well above net income of $405M). VeriSign ended 2015 with $1.9B in cash ($753M in the U.S.) and over $1.2B in debt.
-
VeriSign's Q4 results, earnings release