Verisign notes revenue growth and 8.2 million fresh domain registrations in Q4

Verisign continues to grow and take in fat margins.

.Com and .net domain name registry Verisign noted earnings following the bell today.

Revenue for Q4 2013 was up 7% compared to the same quarter a year ahead of, and overall 2013 revenue was up 10% compared to 2012. The operating margin in Q4 was down compared to Q4 2012, but it was up for the year. It was still quite fat at 53% in Q4.

From a domains perspective, Verisign processed 8.2 million fresh domain name registrations in Q4, which netted out to 1.29 million on its base following deletions.

This 8.2 million number is an notable one for both Verisign and the fresh TLD registries. Fresh TLDs will get their registrations from a few sources:

1. Speculators, like many of the people who registered .guru domains this stretch with hopes of reselling them.

2. Firms protecting their brands.

3. Part of the 8.2 million .com/.net domains registered in the quarter.

Using Q4 as an example, if fresh TLDs could siphon off just 16% of the .com/.net registrations, then Verisign’s base of registered domain names would fall. If 400 domains are generally available, that would be an average of 3,250 siphoned registrations per domain to make this happen.

That would be “kind of a big deal” for Verisign.