Verisign is working in the basic structure of the Internet, providing domain registration services for all domains dot-com, dot net and dot-gov plus some lesser know domain suffix. The company provides network servers that ensure the owner of various domain name dot-something always connected when someone goes to a specific domain on the Internet. The company was given authorization to maintain the Internet infrastructure and domain suffix to domain names registered with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers-ICANN-six-year contract with automatic updates is not enough. If the company has managed to top level domain without incident, the contract must be updated by ICANN.
By mid-2011 Verisign has completed a collection of 13 business units divesture for 4 years. At that time, the company went from 5,000 employees for global locations around 1,000 and almost 90 to 10. The restructuring resulted in the company that focuses on the top level domain name business core and $ 1.2 billion in cash on the books.
Verisign reports fourth quarter results and 2011, February 26-after market close. The consensus forecast of revenues for the quarter was 41 cents a share, roughly 33 percent higher than the 31 cents received in Q4 2010. If Verisign hits number quarterly, full-year earnings results will be for $ 1.50 per share, up 45 percent from $ 1.03 earned in 2010. Each of the last two quarters, the company has surpassed the consensus estimate of a few cents. average Wall Street has been moved by to 2 cents over the past 90 days, so it will be interesting to see how the numbers coming out this weekend.
Long term prospects look bright for Verisign. Apparently not the growth of new domain names and any new .com and .net are money in the bank. At a recent Technology Conference is put on by Credit Suisse, CEO and Chairman, Jim Bidzos discusses growth opportunities using the Verisign Internet infrastructure network to provide additional services that are valuable in the field of network security and reliability of the network. A new, sleeker company is looking for ways to increase revenue and profits without adding a lot of overhead.