Internet infrastructure service provider VeriSign Inc. (VRSN), Thursday reported a profit for the first quarter, helped by strong revenue growth from its core businesses. Both earnings and revenues exceeded analysts' expectations.
For the first quarter, the Mountain View, California-based company reported net income attributable to VeriSign and subsidiaries of $65.02 million or $0.34 per share, compared to a net loss of $8.10 million or $0.04 per share in the prior year quarter.
Income from continuing operations for the quarter increased to $47.00 million or $0.24 per share from $16.53 million or $0.07 per share last year.
Income from discontinued operations for the quarter was $19.00 million or $0.10 per share, compared with a loss from discontinued operations of $24.00 million or $0.11 per share last year.
Excluding items, net income for its core businesses for the quarter was $61 million or $0.32 per share for the quarter.
On average, 18 analysts' polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.28 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.
In the previous fourth quarter, VeriSign reported a net income of $39.0 million or $0.20 per share, compared to a net loss last year. Excluding items, net income for its core businesses was $54 million or $0.28 per share for the quarter.
Revenue from continuing operations for the quarter under review increased to $255 million from $235.30 million in the same quarter last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $248.65 million for the quarter.
For the sequentially preceding fourth quarter, revenue from continuing operations increased to $247.0 million from last year.
Revenues from core operations for the first quarter under review increased to $252.21 million from $224.00 million in the year-ago quarter.
Revenues from discontinued operations for the quarter was $103 million, while non-core businesses reported revenue of $3 million, as part of continuing operation during the first quarter of fiscal year 2009.
Meanwhile, VeriSign noted that pursuant to the terms of arrangement with Certicom, it received a termination fee of about $3 million that contributed about $0.01 per share to earnings.
Mark McLaughlin, President and Chief Operating Officer, VeriSign said, "In the face of a tough economy, solid execution has delivered solid results. Our core businesses did well, and our divestiture efforts have shown great progress."
VRSN closed Thursday's trading at $20.83, down $0.82 or 3.79%, on a volume of 5.10 million shares on the Nasdaq. In after hours, the stock gained $1.52 or 7.30%, trading at $22.35. In the past 52 weeks, the stock trended in a broad range of $16.23 - $42.50, with a three-month average volume of 4.40 million shares.
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