US Markets

U.S. stocks were mixed on Friday morning with no clear direction. The Dow fell 0.03% to 28,355, the S&P 500 index rose 0.15% to 3,458 and the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.18% to 11,484.

Gainers

• HollyFrontier Corp (HFC) +3.9%

• Valero Energy Corp (VLO) +3.3%

• Halliburton Co (HAL) +3.5%

• Unum Group (UNM) +2.8%

• Marathon Petroleum Corp (MPC) +1.9%

Losers

• Robert Half International Inc (RHI) -7.9%

• Tapestry Inc (TPR) -1.9

• Carmax Inc (KMX) -1.0%

• Under Armour Inc (UA) -0.8%

Global Markets

The main European stock markets traded in

The domain name registry space is considered one of the safest industries within the technology sector as it has a very strong cushion against most forms of industry slowdowns and economic downturns.

VeriSign, Inc. (VRSN), which has a market-leading position within this space, is thus a very stable investment, in my opinion. The company is a solid cash cow business witnessing decent single-digit growth, even in the tough business environment caused by the pandemic. Its recent investments in intellectual property associated with blockchain could prove to be a real game-changer.

Company overview

VeriSign is a Virginia-based company that deals in

In order to unearth potential value opportunities in the U.S. market, I have searched for stocks with the following characteristics:

• Their share prices are trading near the Peter Lynch earnings line.
• Their return on invested capital (ROIC) is significantly higher than the weighted average cost of capital (WACC), indicating that the company is using its financial resources in an efficient and profitable way.
• Their stock prices are expected to perform well over the several months ahead, as sell-side analysts on Wall Street have recommended positive ratings for them.

VeriSign Inc

The first stock that holds the above

According to the GuruFocus, these stocks have reached their 52-week highs.

NICE reached the 52-week high of $186.14

Nice Ltd. (NICE) is an enterprise software company that operates in two segments: customer engagement and financial crime and compliance. The company develops on-premises and cloud software based on data analytics. In customer engagement, Nice uses its software to offer services in both workforce engagement management and contact center infrastructure. In financial crime and compliance, Nice sells anti-money-laundering, risk management and fraud prevention software products.

The price of NICE Ltd. shares has reached $186.14, which is

At Urbem, we love to find companies associated with some exclusivity – anything that is unique: for example, exclusive rights on conducting certain businesses, exclusive mindshare among target customers and exclusive links to high-value content. In our experience, such businesses typically have unfair disadvantages, if capitalizing well on their intangible assets of exclusivity, to earn super-normal returns for their enterprising investors who seek long-term alpha. They are also well-moated and more forecastable, being considerably less prone to replication and competitive risk.

Take a look at VeriSign Inc. (VRSN). The Virginia-based company exclusively operates the registry for domain names ending in

For decades, Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio) has been well known for his “forever” love for companies like Coca Cola (KO), American Express (AXP) and Wells Fargo (WFC), which drove the long-term outperformance at Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) (BRK.B).

However, checking the company’s complete portfolio of over 50 stocks, one may notice quite a few quality names that have received less recognition in association with the legendary investor and his value-investing vehicle. Even though all of these companies were selected by Buffett and his in-house money managers, Ted Weschler and Todd Combs, some of them did

According to current portfolio statistics, the three major technology holdings of Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio)’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A)(BRK.B) are Apple Inc. (AAPL), VeriSign Inc. (VRSN) and StoneCo Ltd. (STNE).

The information technology sector includes companies that design, develop and retail computer operating systems, applications and consumer electronics. The sector contains three industry groups: software, hardware and semiconductors.

Guru and sector overview

Berkshire adapts a four-criterion approach to investing: Buffett and co-manager Charlie Munger (Trades, Portfolio) seek companies that have an understandable business,

“The idea of caring that someone is making money faster [than you] is one of the deadly sins. Envy is a really stupid sin because it's the only one you could never possibly have any fun at. There's a lot of pain and no fun. Why would you want to get on that trolley?”Â -Charlie Munger (Trades, Portfolio)

Envy is well known throughout society; it can also be a problem for investors who can’t bear the thought someone else is beating them.

In chapter 10 of “Big Mistakes: The Best Investors and

According to GuruFocus list of 52-week highs, these guru stocks have reached their 52-week highs.

VeriSign Inc. (VRSN) reached the 52-week high of $180.50

VeriSign Inc. is a part of the internet content industry. It provides domain name registry and internet security for websites and enterprises around the world. VeriSign is the sole authorized registry for several generic top-level domains, including the widely utilized .com and .net top-level domains. Additionally, the company operates two of the world's 13 root servers that are used to route internet traffic and also provides DNS security solutions to detect

We may be in a dot-com world with VeriSign (VRSN) at the center of it, but that doesn't mean investors should pay too much for the company's stock, even if it is one of Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio)'s top holdings.

While the stock currently trades just shy of $150 a share, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)(BRK.B) built the majority of its stake in 2013 and 2014 at prices between $45 and $50 per share. Back then, the market cap hovered between $7 billion and $8 billion. Today, thanks to aggressive buybacks, the stock is

The words “Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio)” and “tech stocks” did not often previously appear in the same sentence together, but that has changed in recent years.

The sector grew to encompass 27.7% of his portfolio in the third quarter, its largest representation in nine years of data. It has previously ranged between 7.53% of the portfolio in the second quarter of 2011 and 24.75% of the portfolio in the second quarter of 2018.

“Well, we avoided the tech stocks, but as we felt we had no advantage there and other people did and I think that’s a

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A)(BRK.B) CEO Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio) underscored four key criteria to investing in a significantly overvalued stock market, including predictable earnings and strong profit margin growth. The top five predictable companies in Buffett’s portfolio are Torchmark Corp. (TMK), Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST), VeriSign Inc. (VRSN), Moody’s Corporation (MCO) and DaVita Inc. (DVA).

Torchmark

Torchmark provides various plans and policies through its Life Insurance and Health Insurance business segments. GuruFocus lists two positive investing signs for the McKinney, Texas-based company: consistent revenue growth and a price-earnings ratio near a

“We try to own every one of them. Every single one. And if I had my druthers, I wouldn't own any other stocks in the year 2000. Because these are the only ones worth owning right now in this extremely difficult, extremely narrow stock market. They are the only ones that are going higher consistently in good days and bad. I love every one of them, just as I loathe the rest of the stock universe.”[1]

- Jim Cramer, February 2000

Many times you will hear talking heads discussing the “must-have” stocks to own in your portfolio. They are usually

According to GuruFocus list of 52-week highs, these guru stocks have reached their 52-week highs.

VeriSign Inc. (VRSN) reached the 52-week high of $125.92

VeriSign Inc. is a part of the internet content industry. It provides domain name registry and internet security for websites and enterprises around the world. VeriSign is the sole authorized registry for several generic top-level domains, including the widely utilized .com and .net top-level domains. Additionally, the company operates two of the world's 13 root servers that are used to route Internet traffic and also provides DNS security solutions to detect

In 2015, I wrote an article on Precision Castparts highlighting the stock as a majorly undervalued holding in Buffett’s stock portfolio. Less than a month later, the company was acquired for a 12% premium.

The interesting part of Berkshire’s portfolio is how big positions in some companies do not make a huge dent in the overall performance. The company owns 3.56% of General Motors (GM), but the investment only accounts for 1.07% of the stock holdings. Or VeriSign (VRSN), the internet services company, where Berkshire is the largest shareholder with over 13% of the shares. That stake accounts for

Though he has since changed his mind, Buffett famously avoided tech stocks for more than the first 30 years of his investing career. In an interview from the mid-1980s, Buffett said that the technological revolution had “gone right past him,” and he hadn’t found any tech companies he understood.

“It’s OK with me. I don’t have to make money in every game,” he said.

In recent years, Berkshire has made room for some of the sector’s companies, making it the portfolio’s third biggest weighting. Buffett holds IBM (IBM), and one of his deputy investors he hired to manage portions of

Four companies from Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio)’s current portfolio offer good growth and value potential for the second half of the year: Proctor & Gamble Co. (PG), Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (SIRI), Sanofi SA (SNY) and VeriSign Inc. (VRSN).

Setting up the portfolio

I first created a portfolio containing 300 shares of each company Buffett owned as of March 31. The date added for each transaction is April 3, the first trading day of the second quarter. I then loaded this portfolio into the All-In-One Guru Screener and selected the

Update: As clearly stated below, this comment is from the letter commenting on the third-quarter and was accurate as of quarter-end. This excerpt was posted on Oct. 21, the day Baron Funds released their shareholder letter, but became inaccurate as of the date of Oct. 20 as further developments related to the matter described below occurred at the company that day that caused the company's stock to rise on Oct. 21.Â

Shares of internet infrastructure services provider Verisign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) fell over concerns that it might face difficulties extending its contract to administer the ‘.com’ domain registry with

The GuruFocus quarterly contest to guess which stocks Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio) bought begins today.

The second-quarter contest encompasses stocks of which he owns less than 5% (for instance, Phillips 66 (PSX) and Verisign (VRSN) are excluded because he reports purchases of these large positions during the quarter) purchased from April to June. It also includes stocks purchased by his two portfolio managers at Berkshire Hathaway, Ted Weschler and Todd Combs.

To participate, choose three stocks the investors purchased and submit their ticker symbols in the comments section below. Support your ideas with a sentence or phrase

The Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett, reduced his stake in VeriSign Inc. (VRSN) on April 29, selling 32,255 shares for $89.3 per share.

Buffett co-hosted his annual Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)(BRK.B) shareholders meeting in Omaha last weekend alongside his longtime business partner Charlie Munger (Trades, Portfolio). Buffett and Munger have had tremendous success value investing over the course of their careers. Currently Buffett is ranked the third-richest person in the world, according to Forbes.com, with an estimated net worth of $67.7 billion.

VeriSign is also traded in Germany.

VeriSign