Raises 2026 domain base growth guidance to 3.1-4.3%
Guidance · revenue to $1.7375B
VeriSign reported strong Q1 2026 results with record .com/.net domain base of 176.1M, revenue up 6.6% YoY, and EPS up 11.4%. Management raised domain base growth guidance to 3.1-4.3% for 2026 and announced a .com price increase to $10.97 effective Nov 1. They highlighted tailwinds from AI and effective marketing programs, and hinted at forthcoming new security services leveraging their high-assurance infrastructure. Record .com/.net domain base of 176.1M; new registrations at 11.5M (highest since 1H2021).
VeriSign reported strong Q1 2026 results with record .com/.net domain base of 176.1M, revenue up 6.6% YoY, and EPS up 11.4%. Management raised domain base growth guidance to 3.1-4.3% for 2026 and announced a .com price increase to $10.97 effective Nov 1. They highlighted tailwinds from AI and effective marketing programs, and hinted at forthcoming new security services leveraging their high-assurance infrastructure. Record .com/.net domain base of 176.1M; new registrations at 11.5M (highest since 1H2021).
Guidance · revenue to $1.7375B
Management expresses confidence through record domain base metrics, raised guidance, and a positive outlook on AI tailwinds, while acknowledging price increase and renewal rate challenges.
New registrations highest since first half 2021. Management expresses confidence through record domain base metrics, raised guidance, and a positive outlook on AI tailwinds, while acknowledging price increase and renewal rate challenges.
Revenue guidance for FY2026 raised to $1.730-$1.745B; operating income guided to $1.170-$1.185B.
Management sees AI as a tailwind, making it easier for end users to find a domain name and build a website, and contributing alongside marketing programs to strong domain growth. They do not quantify AI's impact and see it as colliding with registrar marketing efforts. AI is also noted as capable of revealing vulnerabilities, underpinning the rationale for high-assurance security services.
New registrations highest since first half 2021. Management expresses confidence through record domain base metrics, raised guidance, and a positive outlook on AI tailwinds, while acknowledging price increase and renewal rate challenges.
Capital expenditures are expected to remain between $55 and $65 million for 2026, with no significant change. The company emphasizes having multiple orders of magnitude of excess capacity for resiliency, but does not discuss incremental capacity investments.
Management expresses confidence through record domain base metrics, raised guidance, and a positive outlook on AI tailwinds, while acknowledging price increase and renewal rate challenges.
| 지표 | 기간 | 범위 | 중간값 | 상태 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Op margin | FY2026 | $1.17B–$1.185B | $1.1775B | MAINTAINED |
| Revenue | FY2026 | $1.73B–$1.745B | $1.7375B | MAINTAINED |
| Units | FY2026 | 3.1%–4.3% | 3.7% | RAISED |
VeriSign notes that Anthropic's AI models have demonstrated the ability to expose system vulnerabilities, reinforcing the need for high-assurance infrastructure and security services.
“with anthropics mythos, we've seen that AI is capable of revealing vulnerabilities in various systems.”
Hello, everyone. Jim, I appreciate the commentary at the very end of your prepared remarks about the new services. Can you maybe provide a bit more color what those new services will solve for your customers, maybe some additional insights on security, stability, mission that you're looking to achieve there?
Sure. I can give you, maybe I can say a few more things about sort of the foundational reasons that I alluded to concerning additional security services in high assurance infrastructure like ours. Putting aside AI for a moment, which is, of course, a significant major development, well, maybe not quite putting it aside, simply making the observation that with anthropics mythos, we've seen that AI is capable of revealing vulnerabilities in various systems. So security is continuing to be important. I mean, in the many years that I ran the RSA conference, my observation in every keynote was that the security situation provided more job security for the audience than any industry I could think of. And here we are, 35 years since that conference began, and it certainly turned out to be true. So I think high assurance infrastructure becomes important for a lot of reasons. AI is not only beneficial for all the reasons that it is, but it reveals vulnerabilities. But just the increased reliance and use of the Internet, it's just such a deep part of all of our lives. So many different infrastructures now relying on it. We think high assurance will be important. I mentioned the components. The components I talked about are our own 100% availability record, 100%, not five nines. now for 28 going on 29 years, that's one, but also our performance that we can deliver accurate, cryptographically protected answers to queries in milliseconds anywhere in the world at a rate of 600 billion per day on average and have multiple orders of magnitude capacity beyond it. The accuracy part is important and the performance part is important because these are windows of vulnerability. The delays in answering queries related to secure navigation are important And so we believe that there are additional security tools that would be synergistic with the type of high assurance infrastructure that we have. And I've alluded to services that we've been examining. They do need to fit certain requirements. They need to fit well into our infrastructure, I think, and work well within our channel. Nothing significantly changes in offering them other than they benefit from the properties of our infrastructure. And we think that... some of them are worth considering in offering as a service. And as I said, we'll have a series of blogs that roll this out starting as soon as next month. So you'll …