Najarian mentioned that Obama wrote a piece in the Wall Street Journal that was bullish on the broadband infrastructure build-out. He said to look at names like Akamai Technologies(AKAM), VeriSign(VRSN) and Broadcom(BRCM) to play the potential build-out.

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John Osterweis, portfolio manager of the Osterweis Fund, says VeriSign, Boyd Gaming and HealthSouth are ready to get off the ropes and rumble.

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Verisign (VRSN) was downgraded to Hold rating from Buy at Jefferies. Price target cut to $32 from $40 while 2008 eps estimates hold at $1.14.

Verisign (VRSN) was downgraded to Underweight, Morgan Stanley said. Company will struggle to restructure in an uncertain environment.

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COMPLIANCE COMPANY, MUCH NEEDED

Credit Suisse said it is downgrading VeriSign (VRSN) to Neutral from Outperform based on limited strategic acquirers during long restructuring process. Maintained $36 target price.

undervalued, growth

The company, which controls the “.com” domain, announced a $1.1 billion buyback representing nearly 15% of the company’s total market cap.

Most analysts expected the buyback and recognize it as a way for management to return value to shareholders. But W.R. Hambrecht analyst Robert Stimson sees it as a defensive play. He says VeriSign may be trying to inflate the stock price to prevent a takeover or at least force the bidder to offer a higher price. Stimson believes Symantec and Comcast could be possible buyers of the internet company.

Last Tuesday, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company named founder Jim Bidzos as chairman for the second time. Bidzos founded the company back in 1995 to develop “a secure infrastructure for handling commerce over the internet using encryption technology.”

He said in an interview, "We are going to enter businesses that leverage our wiring and plumbing capabilities that extend services to different customers and different markets as well as additional services to existing markets."

CIBC World Markets view the election of Bidzos as a positive for VRSN, given his accomplishments in the internet and security industry. The reinstatement of Bidzos highlights the fact that VRSN is focusing on expanding its core businesses. The company will continue to restructure and possibly cut off its low margin communication businesses. CIBC maintains their sector outperform rating and $35 price target for VRSN given the CEO change, hefty $1.1 billion buyback, and full year 07 restructured cost savings worth $50 million.

New CEO should straighten out their act, return to core business. Upgrading internet capability, future expansion of domain extension registrations.

5 years ago this company traded at $30.00 and had no earnings. Now this company trades at $24.50 and has no earnings. The emperor has no clothes.

growth