VeriSign third-quarter revenue rises 5.7% to $443 million as domain base grows 6.1%

VeriSign, Inc. (VRSN) said Thursday its revenue rose 5.7% to $443 million in the third quarter of 2026, as the number of .com and .net domain names grew. The company’s press release for the quarter ended Sept. 30 was attached to an 8-K filing.

Here's how the company did:

• Revenue: $443 million vs. $419.1 million a year earlier
• Diluted earnings per share: $2.35 vs. $2.27 a year earlier
• Operating income: $296 million vs. $284 million a year earlier
• Net income: $213 million vs. $213 million a year earlier

The company recorded a pre-tax operating loss of $7.5 million related to certain assets held for sale in the quarter.

That charge decreased diluted earnings per share by 6 cents, the filing said.

Cash flow from operations was $268 million for the quarter, compared with $308 million a year earlier.

The .com and .net domain base ended the quarter at 182.5 million names, a 6.1% increase from the end of the third quarter of 2025.

The company added a net 3.36 million domain names during the quarter.

VeriSign processed 13.1 million new domain name registrations for .com and .net in the quarter, compared with 10.6 million a year earlier.

The final renewal rate for .com and .net in the second quarter of 2026 was 75.2%, compared with 75.5% for the same quarter of 2025. The company said renewal rates are not fully measurable until 45 days after the end of the quarter.

Executive Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Bidzos said: "We delivered a strong quarter operationally, having grown the domain name base by 6.1% year-over-year."

The company also said the limited beta phase of its high-assurance validation service, Verisign Informed, had opened.

Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities were $476 million at Sept. 30, down $104 million from year-end 2025.

Deferred revenues totaled $1.46 billion, up $79 million from year-end 2025.

During the quarter, VeriSign repurchased 0.7 million shares of common stock for $189 million.

As of Sept. 30, $1.36 billion remained under the share repurchase program, which has no expiration.

On Oct. 19, the board approved a cash dividend of $0.81 per share. It is payable Nov. 24 to stockholders of record at the close of business on Nov. 17.

The release does not include new financial guidance.

The company said it would host a conference call at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time on Oct. 22 to review the results, with a live webcast on its investor site.