VeriSign Is Betting on Its Tech Edge

It's an Internet play. No, it's a telecom play. No, it's a security play. Actually, VeriSign(VRSN Quote) is all of the above, and that's probably why many investors are so confused about the company.

VeriSign will get slightly simpler with its sale of its shrinking retail domain-name registrar business. But putting together the remaining pieces of the VeriSign puzzle is still no easy task. It may be worth the time, though, because the company is jockeying to gain from an acronym-laced list of upcoming technology advances, including wireless-number portability, Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), and RFID, or radio frequency identification device. There are a couple of hitches, of course: Some technologies are still years away, and the key will be execution, an area where management's record is not spotless.

"The amazing thing about VeriSign -- the reason it's the only name in my entire space that I recommend as a long-term buy -- is that there are a lot of different opportunities for it," said Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Tim Leehealey, who has had a buy rating on the stock for more than a year. Shares of VeriSign declined 34 cents, or 2%, to close Thursday at $16.91. (Wedbush Morgan hasn't done any banking for VeriSign.) ...