Gain Boosts VeriSign

Updated from 5:11 p.m. ESTVeriSign (VRSN) - Get Report met Wall Street's earnings estimates as fourth-quarter profit rose due to proceeds from a business unit sale.

VeriSign said Thursday that it posted net income of $271 million, or $1.06 in earnings per share, due largely to a gain of $251 million from the sale of its payment gateway business. A year ago, VeriSign earned $115 million, or 43 cents a share, from the same quarter last year.

Excluding items, the company reported earnings of 26 cents a share, meeting Thomson First Call estimates.

Revenue rose to $392 million from $343 million a year earlier. First Call expected sales of $391 million.

In a conference call with analysts, Chief Financial Officer Dana Evan cautioned that the company would fall short of Wall Street expectations for the first quarter, with revenue between $370 million and $375 million, and earnings of 21 to 22 cents a share. That's significantly lower than consensus estimates from Thomson First Call, which forecast $396 million in revenue, and earnings of 26 cents a share.

In after-hours trading, VeriSign was recently off 46 cents, or 2%, to $22.25.

The company's stock was also buoyed earlier in the day on news it would be added to the

S&P 500

index in February. The security services firm replaces

Reebok

( RBK).