VeriSign, Inc. research snapshot
VRSN AI stock analysis reads VeriSign as a high-margin critical internet infrastructure business that just delivered a Q2 2026 earnings beat, raised full-year 2026 guidance, and saw its domain base grow 5.1% year over year to 179.1 million .com and .net registrations. The stock has recovered above its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, but at about 31.5x trailing EPS and 24.6x trailing free cash flow, the price already capitalizes a long stream of regulated, high-margin cash flow, so the AI analysis treats valuation, agreement risk, and insider selling as the deciding factors rather than issuing an automatic buy call.
Current price
$290.02
Market cap
$26.19 billion
AI score
75 / 100
Rating
High-quality registry franchise with improving trends; rich valuation remains the main drag
Trend status
Improving short-term uptrend above both moving averages after the Q2 2026 earnings beat
Data cutoff (updated monthly)
August 4, 2026
Informational use only. This page is not investment advice.
| Dimension | Conclusion | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Business quality | VeriSign operates critical .com and .net registry infrastructure with very high margins, deferred revenue visibility, and low capital intensity. | High |
| Moat | The moat comes from registry agreements, operational trust, DNS reliability, scale, and switching friction in global internet infrastructure. | High |
| Management | Jim Bidzos combines founder history, chairman role, CEO control, steady buybacks, and a rising dividend, but recent insider sales and key-person concentration deserve monitoring. | Medium-high |
| Financial trend | Q2 2026 revenue grew 6.0% to $434.6 million, diluted EPS rose to $2.38, and full-year 2026 guidance was raised to $1.75 billion to $1.76 billion revenue. | High |
| Valuation | At about 31.5x trailing EPS and about 24.6x trailing free cash flow, VRSN is priced for durable cash flow rather than a cheap entry. | Medium |
| Technical trend | The stock has moved above its 50-day and 200-day moving averages after the Q2 beat, but remains below the May 2026 high. | Medium |
| Risk level | Risk is not mainly execution cost. It is agreement renewal, wholesale price caps, regulatory pressure, DNS availability, cyber threats, leverage, and valuation compression. | Medium-high |
| AI confidence | High for descriptive research, lower for forward return because VRSN can move sharply on agreement, pricing, or governance headlines. | High data confidence |
| Investment certainty | The moat is clear, but certainty depends on buying at a price that leaves room for slower domain growth or a lower terminal multiple. | Medium |
VRSN AI stock forecast
The VRSN AI stock forecast should be read as scenario math, not a promise. Using an August 2026 price near $290.02, trailing EPS near $9.21, and a three-year framework, the tested outputs were about $176 in a bearish case, $282 in a base case, and $343 in a bullish case before dividends. The biggest swing factors are EPS growth, wholesale pricing, domain-base growth, and the terminal earnings multiple.
$335 to $355
More likely if .com and .net registrations keep growing, the November 1, 2026 .com wholesale price increase to $10.97 is absorbed without demand damage, free cash flow stays near or above $1 billion, and the market keeps valuing VRSN above 28x forward earnings.
$275 to $295
More likely if EPS grows at a low single-digit to mid single-digit rate, capital returns continue, and the market assigns a low-to-mid 20s earnings multiple to the registry cash flow stream.
$170 to $180
More likely if domain growth slows, pricing flexibility is challenged, registry agreements become politically contested, or investors reprice VRSN closer to a lower-growth infrastructure utility multiple.
VRSN AI technical analysis
VRSN AI technical analysis improved as of the August 2026 data cutoff. The stock closed near $290.02 on July 31, 2026, above its 50-day moving average and 200-day moving average, after a strong Q2 earnings report on July 23, 2026. Third-party technical feeds showed a golden cross setup with the 50-day average above the 200-day average, but the stock remains below the $312.48 52-week high, so the read is constructive rather than confirmed breakout.
| Level | Value | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Current price | $290.02 | StockAnalysis close on July 31, 2026. |
| Near support | $276 to $282 | 50-day moving average area around $276.23 per StockAnalysis; the July rebound held this zone. |
| Deeper support | $267 to $270 | AltIndex placed the 50-day SMA near $267.90, a level that coincides with prior consolidation. |
| Near resistance | $304 to $305 | AltIndex six-month resistance near $304.50, the zone that capped recent upside. |
| Major resistance | $312.48 | Reported 52-week high from May 2026. |
| 50-day moving average | About $268 to $276 | StockAnalysis showed $276.23 and AltIndex showed a $267.90 SMA, both below the July 31 close. |
| 200-day moving average | About $257 to $261 | StockAnalysis showed $256.92 and AltIndex showed a $260.50 SMA, both below the July 31 close. |
| Momentum | Neutral to bullish | RSI readings were 62.5 per StockAnalysis and 64.8 per AltIndex, below overbought and above neutral. |
| Volume | Above average on July 31 | StockAnalysis showed about 1.11 million shares traded versus a 20-day average near 823,000. |
| Invalidation | Close below $256 to $260 | A decisive close below the 200-day moving average area would damage the improved trend setup. |
VRSN AI trading strategy
The VRSN AI trading strategy below is a rules framework for research and risk planning, not personal advice. It combines registry-business quality with price confirmation, event risk, and clear invalidation levels.
Watch for VRSN to hold above the $276 to $282 support area and then reclaim the $304 to $305 resistance zone with volume closer to or above the 20-day average.
Define risk before entry. A close back below the 50-day moving average area or below $260 can be used as a rules-based invalidation point.
If VRSN pulls back toward $267 to $270 without a break in the registry thesis, compare price action against Q3 2026 earnings, domain-base growth, and management commentary on renewals.
Avoid averaging down without a stop. A move below $260 changes the setup from orderly pullback to possible trend damage.
Track .com and .net domain registrations, renewal rate, wholesale fee changes effective November 1, 2026, ICANN and Department of Commerce developments, free cash flow, buybacks, dividend policy, and senior-note leverage.
Do not let the moat story replace sizing discipline. Agreement headlines, insider selling, and valuation multiple changes can overwhelm steady quarterly revenue growth.
Investment research summary
VeriSign is paid to run authoritative registry and resolution services for .com and .net. Customers ultimately pay because domain names are identity and routing infrastructure for commerce, publishing, email, and brand presence.
The moat is contractual, operational, and reputational. The .com Registry Agreement keeps VeriSign as sole registry operator through November 30, 2030, and DNS reliability, scale, registrar integration, and decades of trust make replacement difficult, although the moat depends on continued governance acceptance.
The thesis fails if .com pricing power is constrained, a governance dispute changes economics, a major security or availability failure damages trust, domain growth weakens, or investors stop paying a premium multiple for regulated cash flow.
Jim Bidzos is founder-linked, Executive Chairman, President, and CEO. Management has used buybacks for years, added and raised a dividend, and in July 2026 added $884 million to the repurchase authorization, but investors should watch insider sales, succession, leverage, and whether repurchases stay disciplined at higher multiples.
The internet still needs stable naming infrastructure, and Q2 2026 new registrations rose to 12.7 million versus 10.4 million a year earlier. The offset is that alternative discovery channels and platform identity can reduce the perceived need for new independent domains, and the newly delegated .web TLD carries no material 2026 revenue.
At roughly 31.5x trailing EPS and 24.6x trailing free cash flow, VRSN does not offer a classic low-multiple margin of safety. The margin depends on contract durability, pricing, capital returns, and avoiding a lower terminal multiple.
Source-backed data
Every metric below includes a source and last verification date.
| Metric | Value | Source | Last verified |
|---|---|---|---|
| VRSN price | $290.02 close on July 31, 2026 | StockAnalysis VRSN quote | August 2, 2026 |
| Market capitalization | $26.19 billion reported, $26.19 billion calculated from $290.02 x 90.3 million shares | StockAnalysis, verified with financial_rigor.py | August 2, 2026 |
| Shares outstanding | 90.4 million at June 30, 2026 and 90.30 million in the StockAnalysis snapshot | VeriSign Q2 2026 10-Q and StockAnalysis | August 2, 2026 |
| Q2 2026 revenue and EPS | $434.6 million revenue, up 6.0%; $216.5 million net income; diluted EPS $2.38 | VeriSign Q2 2026 earnings release | August 2, 2026 |
| FY2025 revenue and EPS | $1.657 billion revenue, up 6.4%; diluted EPS $8.81 | VeriSign FY2025 release, cross-checked with StockAnalysis | August 2, 2026 |
| Full-year 2026 guidance | Revenue raised to $1.75 billion to $1.76 billion; operating income $1.19 billion to $1.20 billion; capital expenditures $55 million to $65 million | VeriSign Q2 2026 earnings release and call | August 2, 2026 |
| Q2 2026 cash and debt | Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $1.03 billion; $549.3 million current senior notes and $1,785.1 million long-term senior notes | VeriSign Q2 2026 10-Q | August 2, 2026 |
| Q2 2026 domain base | 179.1 million .com and .net domain name registrations, up 5.1% year over year; 12.7 million new registrations in the quarter | VeriSign Q2 2026 earnings release | August 2, 2026 |
| Renewal rate and deferred revenue | Final Q1 2026 renewal rate of 76.3% versus 75.5% a year earlier; deferred revenues of $1.45 billion as of June 30, 2026 | VeriSign Q2 2026 earnings release | August 2, 2026 |
| Wholesale .com pricing | Planned increase from $10.26 to $10.97 effective November 1, 2026 | VeriSign Q2 2026 10-Q | August 2, 2026 |
| .com registry agreement | VeriSign remains sole registry operator through November 30, 2030 under the renewed .com Registry Agreement | VeriSign Q2 2026 10-Q and ICANN | August 2, 2026 |
| Technical trend | Price near $290.02, 52-week range $208.86 to $312.48, 50-day area about $268 to $276, 200-day area about $257 to $261 | StockAnalysis and AltIndex technical snapshots | August 2, 2026 |
| Analyst consensus | Buy consensus with an average price target near $318, ranging from $270 to $355 | StockAnalysis analyst forecast | August 2, 2026 |
| Management and insider context | D. James Bidzos is Executive Chairman, President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board; July 2026 Form 4 data showed large planned sales filings by Bidzos | VeriSign leadership and AltIndex insider pages | August 2, 2026 |
This page is an informational research tool only. It is not investment advice, financial advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold VRSN. Forecasts are scenario-based estimates from available data and may be wrong. Always verify current filings, prices, agreement terms, and your own risk constraints before making decisions.
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