Verisign(VRSN) - 2024 Q4 - Annual Results

Financial Performance - VeriSign reported Q4 2024 revenue of $395 million, a 3.9% increase from Q4 2023[3] - Operating income for Q4 2024 was $264 million, compared to $256 million in Q4 2023[3] - Net income for Q4 2024 was $191 million, with diluted EPS of $2.00, down from $265 million and $2.60 in Q4 2023[3] - Full year 2024 revenue reached $1.56 billion, up 4.3% from 2023[4] - Full year 2024 net income was $786 million, with diluted EPS of $8.00, compared to $818 million and $7.90 in 2023[4] Cash Flow and Investments - Cash flow from operations for Q4 2024 was $232 million, compared to $204 million in Q4 2023[6] - Net cash provided by operating activities increased to $902.6 million, up 5.7% from $853.8 million in the previous year[18] - Net cash provided by investing activities was $286.3 million, a significant improvement compared to a net cash used of $(97.4) million in 2023[18] - Total cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash at the end of the period was $212.1 million, down from $245.5 million at the beginning of the period[18] - Proceeds from maturities and sales of marketable securities were $1,195.1 million, down from $1,278.9 million in 2023[18] - Cash paid for interest remained stable at $72.8 million for both years[18] Shareholder Returns - VeriSign repurchased 1.4 million shares for $260 million in Q4 2024, totaling 6.6 million shares for $1.21 billion for the full year[6] - Repurchases of common stock amounted to $1,225.6 million, an increase of 36% compared to $901.4 million in 2023[18] Deferred Revenues and Registrations - Deferred revenues as of December 31, 2024, totaled $1.30 billion, an increase of $58 million from year-end 2023[6] - VeriSign ended Q4 2024 with 169.0 million .com and .net domain name registrations, a 2.1% decrease from Q4 2023[10] - In Q4 2024, VeriSign processed 9.5 million new domain name registrations for .com and .net, up from 9.0 million in Q4 2023[10] Expenses - Cash paid for income taxes was $230.5 million, slightly down from $239.7 million in the previous year[18] - Depreciation of property and equipment decreased to $36.9 million from $44.1 million in 2023[18] - Stock-based compensation expense increased to $61.1 million, up from $59.7 million in the previous year[18]