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VRSN — Verisign

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2. Company Fundamentals

2.1 Competitiveness

Metric Value
Operating Margins 68.45%
Profit Margins 49.96%
Return on Assets 52.07%
Free Float 0.09B
Dividend Yield 1.27%
Short Int % Utilisation 2.35%

2.2 Growth

Metric Value
Revenue Growth 6.6%
Free Cash Flow 0.81B
EBITDA 23.42 (Ratio)
Enterprise Value 27.45B
EV/Revenue 16.31
EV/EBITDA 23.42

Revenue growth of 6.6% indicates steady, moderate expansion.

2.3 Management

Role Metric
Consensus Rating N/A

2.4 Return

Metric Value
Expected Return (Ann.)* 11.01%
Risk / Std Dev (Ann.)* 28.25%
1-Year Price Return* 6.62%

Latest Market Data (as of 2026-08-14, US Eastern time):

Metric Value
Last Price $284.24
52-Week Range $208.86 – $312.48
Observation Count 251 trading days

The return and risk statistics use daily adjusted closes from the retrieved one-year series and annualise daily moments using 252 trading days. The last price is the latest regular-market price reported for the stated date. Source: Yahoo Finance market data.

DuPont Model Analysis

The DuPont model decomposes return on equity (ROE) into three operating and capital-structure drivers:

ROE = Net Margin × Asset Turnover × Equity Multiplier

The comparison uses the latest two comparable annual periods available for the issuer, with reported statement amounts shown in US$. Revenue and net income are income-statement flows; total assets and shareholders’ equity are year-end balance-sheet figures. This is a simplified year-end-balance DuPont comparison rather than an average-balance ROE calculation.

DuPont component Calculation FY2025 FY2024
Revenue Reported revenue $1.66B $1.56B
Net income Reported net income $825.70M $785.70M
Total assets Year-end reported balance $1.33B $1.41B
Shareholders’ equity Year-end reported balance $-2.15B $-1.96B
Net margin Net income ÷ revenue 49.84% 50.45%
Asset turnover Revenue ÷ total assets 1.2494x 1.1073x
Equity multiplier Total assets ÷ shareholders’ equity -0.6155x -0.7184x
ROE Net margin × asset turnover × equity multiplier -38.33% -40.13%

Source: Yahoo Finance annual statements. Values are based on the two latest comparable annual periods returned by the source; fiscal period labels use the statement period-end year.

2.5 FCFF DCF Valuation

Valuation basis: This research model follows a five-year, unlevered FCFF DCF. It starts from reported annual operating inputs, forecasts revenue and operating cash conversion under an explicit mechanical policy, discounts FCFF at WACC, applies a Gordon-growth terminal value, and bridges enterprise value to an indicative common-equity value per share. It is an analytical estimate rather than a recommendation or personalised target price.

Step 1 — Forecast Operating Profit and NOPAT

Reported operating input Value
Revenue $1.66B
Prior annual revenue $1.56B
EBIT $1.15B
Tax rate 22.70%
NOPAT = EBIT × (1 − tax rate) $885.47M
Forecast start-growth basis 6.37%
Forecast policy latest reported annual revenue growth, bounded to -10.00% / 15.00%

Step 2 — Calculate FCFF

Current FCFF building block Value
NOPAT $885.47M
Add: depreciation & amortisation $31.20M
Less: capital expenditure -$22.80M
Less/(add): working-capital cash-flow movement $169.60M
Current unlevered FCFF $1.06B

Explicit FCFF forecast

Forecast year Revenue growth NOPAT D&A Capex Change in NWC FCFF Present value
1 6.37% $941.87M $33.19M -$24.25M $180.40M $1.13B $1.09B
2 5.40% $992.75M $34.98M -$27.92M $190.15M $1.19B $1.06B
3 4.43% $1.04B $36.53M -$31.61M $198.58M $1.24B $1.02B
4 3.47% $1.07B $37.80M -$35.25M $205.47M $1.28B $971.10M
5 2.50% $1.10B $38.74M -$38.74M $210.60M $1.31B $917.87M

Step 3 — Determine the Discount Rate (WACC)

WACC input Value
Risk-free rate 4.71%
Equity risk premium assumption 5.50%
Beta 0.70
Cost of equity 8.58%
Pre-tax cost of debt 4.28%
WACC 8.23%
WACC validation within standard range

Step 4 — Estimate Terminal Value

Terminal-value input Value
Perpetuity growth rate 2.50%
Terminal value $23.44B
Implied terminal EV / EBITDA 16.04x
Terminal value as % of enterprise value 75.76%

Step 5 — Discount Cash Flows to Enterprise Value

Enterprise-value component Value
Present value of explicit FCFF $5.05B
Present value of terminal value $15.79B
Indicated enterprise value $20.84B
Discounting convention mid-year for explicit FCFF; terminal value discounted at year-end five

Step 6 — Convert Enterprise Value to Equity Value

Equity bridge Value
Indicated enterprise value $20.84B
Less: gross interest-bearing debt $1.80B
Add: cash and equivalents $580.50M
Add: affiliate investments $0.00
Less: minority interests $0.00
Indicated common equity value $19.62B

Step 7 — Calculate Indicative Value Per Share

Per-share output Value
Shares used 93,800,000.00
Share-count basis reported diluted weighted-average shares
Current market price $279.79
DCF indicative value per share $209.17
Indicative value vs. market price -25.24%

Model Integrity Checks

Check Result
Perpetuity growth is below the risk-free rate pass
Perpetuity growth is below WACC pass
WACC is within the configured operating-company range pass
Terminal-year FCFF is positive pass
Terminal capex converges to D&A pass
Terminal-value concentration within review band
Implied price differs from spot by more than 30% within review band

2.6 Investor-Style Research Screen

Educational screen Result
Buffett-inspired cash-quality checks 4/4 evidenced checks
Lynch-inspired balance-and-growth checks 4/4 evidenced checks

Data lineage: Yahoo Finance public market and reported-statement data; retrieval timestamp: 2026-08-18 17:53:30.187464 UTC; latest reported fiscal period: 2025-12-31 00:00:00. Default assumptions: five-year forecast, mid-year discounting for explicit FCFF, a maximum 2.50% perpetuity-growth rate below both WACC and the risk-free rate, historical operating-ratio persistence, and capex convergence to D&A by year five. No sell-side consensus or management guidance is substituted for reported inputs. This is research and analysis only, not personalized financial advice.

2.7 Quantitative Factor Diagnostics

Model basis: Daily issuer USD excess returns are regressed in-sample using ordinary least squares on matching regional Fama–French factors. FF3 estimates market, size, and value loadings; FF5 adds profitability and investment. Coefficients are descriptive historical exposures, not predictions.

Estimation input Value
Regional factor set US
Factor-return currency USD
Issuer-return basis USD adjusted total return
Estimation window 2025-08-19 to 2026-06-30
Aligned daily observations 217
Minimum observation requirement 120
Currency conversion for HK listings not required

Fama–French Three-Factor and Five-Factor Results

Diagnostic FF3 FF5
Annualised alpha -6.28% 2.46%
Adjusted R² 0.01 0.02
Annualised residual volatility 27.34% 27.04%
Factor loading (t-statistic) FF3 FF5
Market excess return (Mkt-RF) -0.07 (-0.45) 0.12 (0.66)
Size (SMB) 0.45 (2.06) 0.44 (1.88)
Value (HML) -0.12 (-0.63) -0.33 (-1.46)
Profitability (RMW) NM 0.31 (1.60)
Investment (CMA) NM 0.37 (1.10)

Definitions: Mkt-RF is the market return less the risk-free rate; SMB is small minus big; HML is high minus low book-to-market; RMW is robust minus weak profitability; CMA is conservative minus aggressive investment. Factor returns are sourced from the Kenneth R. French Data Library; issuer adjusted-return history is sourced from Yahoo Finance. For Hong Kong listings, adjusted HKD prices are converted into USD with daily USD/HKD closes before return calculation to match the USD regional factor basis. This is an in-sample historical regression; coefficients and t-statistics do not establish causation or predict future returns. This is research and analysis only, not personalized financial advice.

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