VeriSign to bump up forecast

VeriSign on Tuesday said it will increase its third-quarter revenue forecast, citing better-than-expected performance from its recent acquisition of Jamba.

The Internet domain name registry had forecast third-quarter revenue of $285 million when it announced second-quarter results in late July. But VeriSign said it will bump up that figure because of strong performance related to its recent acquisition of Jamba, a European wireless content provider, according to a VeriSign filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

"The Jamba business is performing significantly ahead of expectations at this point in the quarter, based on information currently available," VeriSign said in the filing. "Accordingly, the company anticipates that it will post revenues in the third quarter ahead of its guidance."

VeriSign, which also provides services and security software for telecommunications networks, did not detail in the filing how much higher its third-quarter revenue is expected to be.

Shares of VeriSign rose in morning trading by $1.58, or 10 percent, to $19.43.

Prior to VeriSign's SEC filing, a consensus of analysts was expecting the company to generate third-quarter revenue of roughly $286.4 million and earnings of 16 cents per share, according to Thomson First Call.

Excluding the Jamba acquisition, Mountain View, Calif.-based VeriSign said its financial performance was in line with its earlier forecast.

VeriSign completed its $273 million acquisition of Jamba in June. The move was part of an effort to bolster its communications services to wireless carriers. Jamba works with content providers to offer downloadable music, graphics, games and applications. Jamba does business with wireless carriers such as T-Mobile USA and Vodafone, which serve millions of subscribers in nine European countries.

The Jamba acquisition marked the latest move in VeriSign's efforts to expand its communications services business, both domestically and overseas. In March, VeriSign announced it would take over Unimobile, which provides mobile messaging products to service carriers.