Verisign notes earnings, 1.51 million net adds

Firm notes continued growth in domain name registrations and base.

Verisign noted first quarter earnings following the bell today, counting some fairly solid numbers for fresh registrations and net additions in .com/.net.

8.7 million fresh .com and .net registrations occurred in the first quarter, up from 8.6 million in the same quarter last year. It’s not a big jump, but it’s headed in the right direction. That netted out to 1.51 million more names following accounting for deletions.

Revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% compared to Q1 2014 to $258 million. Earnings dipped from $94 million to $88 million.

If I were an analyst on today’s conference call, I’d ask what the average revenue per registration for a fresh .com domain is following taking out direct marketing payments to registrars. I’ve seen lots of promotions on .com lately, counting one registrar offering unlimited .com domains for $5 toward the end of last year. It makes sense for Verisign to do this. But for anyone modeling the business, it would be good to understand how much the firm is getting for a fresh .com domain name these days.