VeriSign Q4 2022 Earnings Report

VeriSign EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $1.70
• Consensus EPS: $1.53
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$0.17
• One Year Ago EPS: $1.48

VeriSign Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $369.20 million
• Expected Revenue: $366.10 million
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$3.10 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: +8.50%

VeriSign Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q4 2022
• Date: 2/9/2023
• Time: After Market Closes
• Conference Call Date: Wednesday, February 8, 2023
• Conference Call Time: 4:30PM ET

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) (NASDAQ: VRSN) is an internet infrastructure company that operates critical components of the global Domain Name System (DNS) and provides cybersecurity-related services. The company is best known as the authoritative registry operator for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the central databases and zone files that enable domain name resolution for millions of websites. VeriSign’s registry role is performed under contractual agreements with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and involves high-availability, highly secure operations to support continuous internet connectivity.

In addition to its registry business, VeriSign offers a suite of services designed to protect and accelerate DNS and internet traffic for enterprises and service providers. Its product offerings include managed DNS services, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) mitigation and related security solutions, as well as analytics and threat intelligence capabilities that help customers detect and respond to internet-scale attacks. These services are positioned to complement the company’s registry expertise by addressing availability, performance and security requirements of organizations that depend on resilient online presence.

VeriSign serves a global customer base that includes domain name registrars, enterprise customers, web infrastructure providers and government entities. Its infrastructure and services are distributed and engineered for high reliability and scale, reflecting the need to support continuous resolution of domain names and protection against volumetric and application-layer attacks that can affect internet availability worldwide.

Founded in 1995 and headquartered in Reston, Virginia, VeriSign has evolved from early internet infrastructure roots into a company focused on registry operations and DNS-related security services. It is publicly traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker VRSN. The company’s operations and contractual obligations with internet governance bodies make it a foundational provider in the domain name ecosystem and a participant in broader efforts to safeguard and stabilize internet infrastructure.

VeriSign Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• FY22 financial results with revenue of $1.425 B (+7.3% y/y), operating income of $943 M (+8.8%) and free cash flow of $804 M.
• Domain base growth slowed to 173.8 M names (+0.2% y/y), Q4 renewal rate fell to 73.2% and 2023 domain base growth is guided at 0%–2.5%.
• .com price increase: the annual wholesale fee rises by $0.62 to $9.59 starting Sept 1, 2023, yet remains capped below $10.26 through 2026.
• VeriSign exited the .TV registry contract after RFP terms misaligned, sacrificing about $19 M in annual revenue (≈$10 M in Q4).
• Strong capital return and liquidity with $980 M in cash and securities, 5.5 M shares repurchased for $1 B in 2022 and $859 M remaining authorized.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good day, everyone. Welcome to VeriSign's fourth quarter and full year 2022 earnings call. Today's call is being recorded. Recording of this call is not permitted unless pre-authorized. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Mr. David Atchley, Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Treasurer. Please go ahead, sir.

[David Atchley, VP of Investor Relations and Corporate Treasurer at VeriSign]

Thank you, operator. Welcome to VeriSign's fourth quarter and full year 2022 earnings call. Joining me are Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO; Todd Strubbe, President and COO; and George Kilguss, Executive Vice President and CFO. This call and presentation are being webcast from the Investor Relations website, which is available under About VeriSign on verisign.com. There you will also find our earnings release. At the end of this call, the presentation will be available on that site. Within a few hours, the replay of the call will be posted. Financial results in our earnings release are unaudited. Our remarks include forward-looking statements that are subject to the risks and uncertainties that we discuss in detail in our documents filed with the SEC, specifically the most recent report on Form 10-K.

[David Atchley, VP of Investor Relations and Corporate Treasurer at VeriSign]

VeriSign does not update financial performance or guidance during the quarter unless it is done through a public disclosure. The financial results in today's call and the matters we will be discussing today include GAAP results and two non-GAAP measures used by VeriSign, adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow. GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation information is appended to the slide presentation, which can be found on the Investor Relations section of our website, available after this call. Jim and George will provide some prepared remarks, and afterward, we will open the call for your questions. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Jim.

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

Thank you, David. Good afternoon to everyone, and thank you for joining us. I'm pleased to report another solid quarter of operational and financial performance for VeriSign. Throughout 2022, we delivered strong financial results while continuing to strengthen our critical internet infrastructure. We complied with the high operational standards required by our ICANN agreements and extended our record of .com and .net DNS availability to over 25 years. I'd like to thank our team for their dedicated efforts, which enabled us to realize these results. The critical infrastructure we operate provides the domain name system navigation service, which people around the world depend on for commerce, work from home, education, healthcare, and much more. During 2022, we acknowledged the uncertainty that macroeconomic and other challenges beyond our ability to influence presented, and we said that we would focus on what was within our ability to control.

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

We also indicated what that meant. First, reliably maintaining, operating, and investing in our critical internet infrastructure. Next, exercising careful expense control, where appropriate. Additionally, it meant keeping focused on long-term value creation and efficient return of capital. During 2022, revenue grew 7.3% year-over-year and operating income by 8.8% year-over-year. Additionally, shares outstanding at the end of 2022 decreased by 4.8% from those outstanding at the end of 2021. Our financial and liquidity position remains stable, with $980 million in cash equivalents, and marketable securities at the end of the year. During the full year of 2022, we repurchased 5.5 million shares for $1 billion.

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

At year-end, $859 million remained available and authorized under the current share repurchase program, which has no expiration. At the end of 2022, the domain name base in .com and .net totaled 173.8 million domain names, with a year-over-year growth rate of 0.2%. In the fourth quarter, there were 9.7 million new registrations compared to 9.9 million last quarter and 10.6 million in a year-ago quarter. While there are many factors that drive demand for domain names, we saw lower new registrations during 2022 as a result of factors that I've already mentioned in prior calls. These include pandemic-driven acceleration of new registrations in 2020 and 2021, which has subsided, global macroeconomic headwinds, reduced new registrations from China, and lower first-time renewal rates.

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

We believe that the renewal rate for the fourth quarter of 2022 will be approximately 73.2% compared to the 73.7% final renewal rate last quarter and 74.8% a year ago. For the full year of 2022, the renewal rate for previously renewed names remained similar year-over-year. However, first-time renewal rates were lower year-over-year, with the largest single driver being names renewing from China, which were registered during 2021. Looking to 2023, our expected 2023 domain name base growth rate is between 0% and 2.5%. This guidance reflects our knowledge about our domain name base, our channel, and the broader macroeconomic backdrop.

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

As announced in today's earnings release, we have given notice of a price increase of $0.62 to the annual wholesale price for .com domain names, which raises the price from $8.97 to $9.59, effective September 1st, 2023. Even after this increase, we believe .com will remain highly competitive with other TLD choices. As a reminder, any of our domains may be registered for terms of up to 10 years at the current price.

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

While we do not guide to pricing changes, I can say, as I did last year, that under the limited pricing flexibility we have, the wholesale price of a .com registration cannot exceed $10.26 until at least October of 2026. Turning to .web, the parties made their submissions to ICANN during Q3, and we are still waiting for ICANN to complete its process. Now I'd like to turn the call over to George. I will return when George has completed his financial report with closing remarks.

[George Kilguss, EVP and CFO at VeriSign]

Thanks, Jim, and good afternoon, everyone. For the year ended December 31, 2022, the company generated revenue of $1.425 billion, up 7.3%, and delivered operating income of $943 million, up 8.8% from 2021. Operating expense totaled $482 million and was up 4.6% from the prior year compared to a similar 4.5% increase experienced in fiscal 2021. The full year 2022 operating margin was 66.2%, and free cash flow was $804 million.

[George Kilguss, EVP and CFO at VeriSign]

For the quarter ended December 31, 2022, the company generated revenue of $369 million, up 8.5% from the same quarter of 2021, and delivered operating income of $245 million, up 10.5% from the same quarter a year ago. During the fourth quarter of 2022, we executed a transition of the .tv agreement to a new registry operator. As the proposed contract terms in the new .tv request for proposal no longer aligned with our strategic framework, we decided not to participate in the RFP. Revenue related to this agreement during the full year of 2022 was approximately $19 million, of which approximately $10 million was recorded in the fourth quarter. Operating expense in Q4 totaled $124 million compared to $118 million a year earlier.

[George Kilguss, EVP and CFO at VeriSign]

Net income in the fourth quarter totaled $179 million compared to $330 million a year earlier, which produced diluted earnings per share of $1.70 for the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to $2.97 for the same quarter of 2021. As a reminder, net income for the fourth quarter of 2021 included the recognition of a deferred income tax benefit related to the transfer of certain non-U.S. intellectual properties between wholly owned subsidiaries, which increased, excuse me, which increased net income by $165.5 million and increased diluted earnings per share by $1.49.

[George Kilguss, EVP and CFO at VeriSign]

Operating cash flow for the fourth quarter of 2022 was $217 million, and free cash flow was $209 million, compared with $206 million and $193 million, respectively, for the fourth quarter of 2021. I will now discuss our full year 2023 guidance. Revenue is expected to be in the range of $1.485 billion-$1.505 billion. This revenue range reflects our expectation that the domain name base will grow at a rate between 0% and 2.5% that Jim mentioned, and is also impacted by the transition of the .tv agreement at the end of 2022. Operating income is expected to be between $985 million and $1.005 billion.

[George Kilguss, EVP and CFO at VeriSign]

Interest expense and non-operating income net, which includes interest income estimates, is expected to be an expense of between $35 million-$45 million. Capital expenditures in 2023 are also expected to be in a range between $35 million-$45 million. The GAAP effective tax rate is expected to be between 22% and 25%. In summary, VeriSign continued to demonstrate sound financial performance during the fourth quarter and the full year of 2022, and we look forward to continuing our focused execution in 2023. Now I'll turn the call back to Jim for his closing remarks.

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

Thank you, George. We believe our strategic focus and disciplined management served us well during 2022, allowing us to deliver solid financial results in a challenging environment as the economy struggled to recover from disruption caused by the pandemic. VeriSign's mission is about security and stability, not only in the operation of our critical infrastructure. Financial stability is also important for our customers, employees, and shareholders. Today, we reported profitable revenue growth for 2022. We guided to profitable revenue growth for 2023. This was possible through modest domain name base growth, limited pricing flexibility, and responsible expense management. We believe that the long-term fundamentals of our business remain strong. As I said earlier, our strategy prioritizes reliable, uninterrupted operation of our critical infrastructure, along with long-term value creation and its efficient return to shareholders with consistent, efficient management.

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

We believe this strategy will serve all of our constituents well for the long term, and you can expect us to maintain this focus. Thanks for your attention today. This concludes our prepared remarks, and now we'll open the call for your questions. Operator, we're ready for the first question.

[Operator]

Thank you. If you would like to signal with questions, please press star one on your touch-tone telephone. If you're joining us today using a speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. Again, that is star one if you would like to signal with questions. Our first question will come from Rob Oliver with Robert W. Baird.

[Rob Oliver, Director and Senior Software Research Analyst at Robert W. Baird]

Great. Good afternoon. Can you guys hear me okay?

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

Just fine.

[Rob Oliver, Director and Senior Software Research Analyst at Robert W. Baird]

Okay, great. Hi, Jim. Thanks. Appreciate the opportunity to ask a question. First one for me is just around the macro. Obviously, second half of last year, you guys, you know, really focused on kind of what you can control operationally. A lot of moving parts in the macro, and I think that, you know, approach really served you well. Looking out here into 2023, also obviously tremendous amount of moving parts, you know, layoffs, macro uncertainty, on the other hand, China reopening. Just curious if you could add a few finer points to your thoughts relative to the outlook, having seen many cycles as well as to the domain guide that you guys offered of the 0%-2.5%. Then I had a quick follow-up.

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

Thanks for that question. Well, first for 2022, looking back on that year, as soon as we recognized that the pandemic-driven growth was subsiding, we began planning for what I've called responsible expense control. Meaning, that first and foremost, we make all necessary investments in our infrastructure and then look everywhere for efficiencies. As far as layoffs, we did not, as many companies did, accelerate hiring during the pandemic-driven growth period. I would also point out that the average employee tenure at VeriSign is over nine years. We're fortunate to have a loyal, experienced, and stable employee base. I should also point out we also try to take advantage of opportunities to return value to shareholders with more effect as we did in 2022, retiring nearly 5% of our shares outstanding.

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

These are all the parts of our business that we can control, so that's where we focused in 2022. Looking forward, we're hearing what you're hearing. Many economists and CEOs talking about 2023 say that the macroeconomic and geopolitical factors suggest some continued uncertainty. I suppose it should be no surprise that the recovery from the pandemic, you know, with all the global impact in 2020 and 2021, is gonna take more than one year to fully recover. It seems prudent to factor that uncertainty into our guidance for 2023, which we did. As far as strategy, what you can expect from us in 2023 is a continuation of our 2022 strategy. It's actually not that different from what we try to do every year.

[Rob Oliver, Director and Senior Software Research Analyst at Robert W. Baird]

Okay, great. Thanks, Jim. I've been on the road marketing for the last couple weeks, particularly, you know, in the news now is ChatGPT. I just wanted to get your thoughts relative to that. It's obviously very early. We're in the hype stage around this new technology now. You know, we've seen, you know, and I've seen with you guys many times over the years where there have been calls for, you know, the demise of the domain. I just wanted to get your preliminary thoughts relative to ChatGPT and, you know, potential risks. It seems to direct people towards information rather than directing them towards websites, at least at the outset. I just wanted to get your thoughts. Thanks.

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

Oh, okay. Well, that's an interesting question. Well, first of all, I'll say this, I mean, right now, ChatGPT looks like a very interesting and potentially beneficial thing for us. We're actually looking at it quite closely. We have a product called NameStudio, which we use and some of our channel uses to help them, you know, when they go to register a domain name, if it's already taken by somebody else, which happens. You know, NameStudio will actually help you find a similar and equally good or maybe even better name. We're looking closely at the ChatGPT to see about using its capabilities to enhance what NameStudio does. I see it as actually a benefit to those efforts.

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

I would see ChatGPT similar, I mean, I guess at one point, a lot of people said, well, voice assistants are, you know, going to replace the DNS. I just, you know, that one had me shaking my head. Voice assistants go out and collect data and report it to you. The data that they collect is found by searching the internet for the relevant data that they seek. That's navigated using the DNS. They're completely complementary.

[Rob Oliver, Director and Senior Software Research Analyst at Robert W. Baird]

Got it. Okay. That's helpful. Thanks, Jim. Appreciate it. Thank you, guys.

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

Sure. Great. Thanks, Rob.

[Operator]

We'll take our last question from Ygal Arounian with Citi.

[Ygal Arounian, Director of Internet Equity Research at Citi]

Hey, guys. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking the question. Maybe just starting off on China. You just mentioned it before a little bit, but, you know, given the reopening there and some of the factors, just think about some of the puts and takes that are kinda driving the needle there or, you know, impacting your expectations for next year?

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

Well, I guess first of all, just understanding... Oh, I'm getting an echo there. Do you hear that?

[Ygal Arounian, Director of Internet Equity Research at Citi]

I do, yeah.

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

I don't know if the audience is hearing my echo. I'm hearing it. Seems to be gone now.

[Ygal Arounian, Director of Internet Equity Research at Citi]

Okay.

[Operator]

Yeah. Please proceed. I just muted the participant's line while you were responding. That's all.

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

Okay. Oh, okay. All right. Maybe there was some feedback there. So in 2022, we did see a lot of China names that were registered in 2021, renewing with lower first-time renewal rates. That was a factor in 2022. China, as you know, has treated, you know, the pandemic differently. It's somewhat unique in that sense. Those are the factors that contributed to, you know, lockdowns, which are ongoing, their zero-COVID policy, increased regulation, economic uncertainty, the proportion of names renewing from China that's higher. We mentioned last year that we did see some signs of returning.

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

I think my comments about the, you know, what if there's any consensus about 2023, I think it's that uncertainty still exists and that the recovery is maybe a little bit slower than people thought. We're sort of just factoring that in. China is certainly part of it. Things are changing in China. I think it's too early to say exactly what that impact will be. Certainly, the economy seems to be moving in a different direction there with some of the COVID restrictions lifting. Maybe after a quarter, next quarter, we'll be able to tell you more about what that's doing to the 2023 outlook. Obviously, we'll update our guidance if we see something meaningful that we consider worthy of reporting and representing a trend.

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

At this point, I think it's just too early to say.

[Ygal Arounian, Director of Internet Equity Research at Citi]

Okay. Thanks. Hopefully I'm not on mute anymore, but, one more.

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

You're not.

[Ygal Arounian, Director of Internet Equity Research at Citi]

Can you guys hear me?

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

Yeah, we're hearing you. You're not on mute. Go ahead.

[Ygal Arounian, Director of Internet Equity Research at Citi]

Yep. Okay. You know, one... A couple of questions we get on domains. You know, one is, I know the environment was different in the early part of the pandemic, but, you know, we got the question on counter cyclicality, you know, we're seeing a lot of layoffs in the tech world right now. You know, often that can lead to kind of new business formations, people starting projects. Are there any indications of that you're seeing that? Is that factored into your guidance at all? You know, the other thing people kind of ask us about regularly is how we think about normalized domain growth going forward, right?

[Ygal Arounian, Director of Internet Equity Research at Citi]

We've got some macro headwinds here, but prior to the pandemic, domains were growing at about, you know, 4% +5%, or let's just call it 4%. Growing around 4%. We've been well below that now for, you know, for the duration of this year. Guidance is well below that for next year. How do you guys think about, you know, a normalized growth rate for domains? Does it return back to the levels of pre-COVID or are there other factors to think about?

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

Well, let's see. I think there's a couple of questions in there, but I guess, first of all, well to answer directly part of your question, we have not tried to assess and factor in the impact that layoffs and new business starts might have, although that is a data point that we do track. I think you can, you can map new business starts going back to 2020 with a fairly good size jump then and some elevated activity in 2021, and then you see it declining in 2022. That does tend to correlate a bit to the domain name activity and registration activity that we saw. What that's going to mean for the future, I'm not sure.

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

It's not a planned part of our guidance for 2023. I will just say, I'll invite George to comment as well, we think that the fundamentals of our business and the long-term prospects for the business are fundamentally strong. Domain names are established, have tremendous utility and tremendous value, and, you know, registrations, we think long term, it's a great business to be in. We think it will return to pre-pandemic levels, 2023 is a tricky year to predict, we haven't gone as far as predicting a return at that point.

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

I do think one of the overriding sort of macro factors in all of this is just a complicated, longer recovery from COVID than people thought. I think it's pretty clear that we're seeing that, some of the ups and downs and the bumps that we're encountering. George, you wanna add anything to that?

[George Kilguss, EVP and CFO at VeriSign]

The only thing I'd add, Ygal, is that, you know, when you look at our business and what we've previously indicated, you know, we look at factors such as internet adoption, internet penetration, and the growth of e-commerce, you know, influencing our business. I think if you looked back during 2020 and 2021, clearly we saw a lot of those statistics increase significantly. While they've come down, you know, there's still I think a longer growing trend that I think bodes well for domain names.

[Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO at VeriSign]

Yeah. I would just add one, you know, statistic. One trend is that even the names that we, registered in 2020 and 2021, exclusive of some of the China names, that are now renewing, for the second time or even the third time, are renewing at the traditional previously renewed rate, which is in the mid-80s. I think that's a good indicator about the long-term strength of the business.

[Ygal Arounian, Director of Internet Equity Research at Citi]

Great. That's helpful, and I agree on the trends on e-commerce and all that. Last question. The operating margins, if I'm looking at it correctly, seems to have come in quite better than where the guidance applied for 4Q. Can you just talk about what is driving that and how that fits into the expense control stuff you're talking about, or is it a separate thing? Thanks.

[George Kilguss, EVP and CFO at VeriSign]

Thanks, Ygal. I think a couple of things. As I mentioned in my prepared remarks, we did during the year, actually late in fourth quarter, transition out of a .tv management of that TLD. In doing so, as we completed all our obligations there, we did recognize about $8.4 million of deferred revenue in the fourth quarter. Again, total revenue for that contract in 2021 was about $19 million. As Jim mentioned, you know, we, in the beginning, I would say in the second quarter, we started looking pretty closely at our expenses and did more responsible management of those expenses, and we were able to get those expenses down.

[George Kilguss, EVP and CFO at VeriSign]

Overall, our expenses grew by about 4.6% this year, which is similar to last year. As far as the fourth quarter, we did do a little bit of seasonal marketing, more than we had done in the third quarter in the fourth quarter, some of the increase there sequentially was a result of some of those marketing activities.

[Ygal Arounian, Director of Internet Equity Research at Citi]

Great, thanks. Thanks so much for that.

[George Kilguss, EVP and CFO at VeriSign]

Great. Thanks, Ygal.

[Operator]

That does conclude the question and answer session. I'll now turn the conference back over to Mr. David Atchley.

[David Atchley, VP of Investor Relations and Corporate Treasurer at VeriSign]

Thank you, operator. Please call the Investor relations department with any follow-up questions from this call. Thank you for your participation. This concludes our call. Have a good evening.

[Operator]

Thank you. That does conclude today's conference.

Participants

Executives

• David Atchley, VP of Investor Relations and Corporate Treasurer
• George Kilguss, EVP and CFO
• Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman and CEO

Analysts

• Rob Oliver, Director and Senior Software Research Analyst at Robert W. Baird
• Ygal Arounian, Director of Internet Equity Research at Citi