5 Biggest Losers in Warren Buffett’s Latest Portfolio

2. VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 34

Year-to-Date Loss as of May 20: 34.33%

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) is a Virginia-based company that provides domain registry services. Berkshire Hathaway has consistently held its VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) stake since Q4 2012. In the first fiscal quarter of 2022, the hedge fund reported owning 12.8 million VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) shares, worth $2.85 billion.

Baird analyst Rob Oliver on April 29 downgraded VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) to Neutral from Outperform with a price target of $210, down from $260. He slashed fiscal 2022 estimates given a lower domain outlook amid a softening of demand after the pandemic-driven surge, as well as incremental weakness in the macro environment, the analyst told investors, who also expects the “sudden domain uncertainty could weigh on shares”. 

Among the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 34 funds were bullish on VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) at the end of Q4 2021, down from 40 funds in the last quarter. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies held a significant position in the company at the end of the first quarter of 2022, with more than 4 million shares worth $893.5 million. 

Here is what Baron Asset Fund has to say about VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

“Verisign, Inc. provides internet infrastructure services worldwide and is best known for its exclusive role managing the .com and .net domains, for which it receives annual fees from all those domain owners. Shares of Verisign gained after reporting strong revenue growth and operating margins that exceeded Wall Street forecasts. We continue to be positive on Verisign’s business, based on its strong competitive position, capacity for global growth in domain names, and its ongoing ability to generate substantial free cash flow.”