Company Reports

On Sept. 24, the Financial Times reported that Gen Digital, a cybersecurity company, is in early discussions to acquire domain registrar GoDaddy. Following the report, GoDaddy's shares surged 11% but partly pulled back, while Gen Digital's fell as much as 12% over the day.

GoDaddy offers domain registration and online presence-building tools, primarily targeting micro and small businesses. The firm is the world's largest registrar but faces growing competition from other registrars, stand-alone website solutions, and e-commerce platforms like Shopify and Block.

GoDaddy offers domain registration and digital-presence tools, primarily targeting micro and small businesses that prioritize simplicity and speed-to-launch. Large organizations also use GoDaddy, mainly for domain registration, but typically customize their online presence in-house.

We are discontinuing analyst coverage of GoDaddy.

We are transferring coverage of domain registrar and provider of website, hosting, and commerce tools GoDaddy. The company is the largest domain registrar in the world and primarily serves small and micro businesses to establish and grow their digital presence.

We are largely positive on GoDaddy’s overall strategy but believe the lack of upmarket penetration is a net negative for the company.

We think GoDaddy’s position as the world’s leading domain registrar creates a unique opportunity to capture demand from newly formed businesses and upsell complementary products beyond domain registration. We expect the one-stop-shop model will appeal to micro and small businesses looking to establish and manage a ubiquitous online identity with integrated commerce solutions. The initial domain registration process is typically a customer's first interaction with GoDaddy and acts as an on-ramp for additional products. For example, entrepreneurs seeking an online presence for their idea may approach GoDaddy for a domain registration initially and, as a natural extension, purchase a subscription to a domain-linked email account, website-building tools, and commerce solutions.

GoDaddy reported solid third-quarter results with revenue growing 10% year over year to nearly $1.27 billion and adjusted EBITDA margins expanding 40 basis points to 32.3%. Top-line performance was driven by average revenue per user growth of 10% offset by a 1.5% decline in customers.

GoDaddy reported second-quarter revenue of $1.2 billion, up 8% year over year due to domain renewals and growing adoption of its artificial intelligence tools. Normalized adjusted EBITDA margin was 31%, up 180 basis points year over year due to favorable product mix and pricing tailwinds

We think GoDaddy’s position as the world’s leading domain registrar creates a unique opportunity to capture demand from newly formed businesses and upsell complementary products beyond domain registration. We expect the one-stop-shop model will appeal to micro and small businesses looking to establish and manage a ubiquitous online identity with integrated commerce solutions. The initial domain registration process is typically a customer's first interaction with GoDaddy and acts as an on-ramp for additional products. For example, entrepreneurs seeking an online presence for their idea may approach GoDaddy for a domain registration initially and, as a natural extension, purchase a subscription to a domain-linked email account, website-building tools, and commerce solutions.

We think GoDaddy’s position as the world’s leading domain registrar creates a unique opportunity to capture demand from newly formed businesses and upsell complementary products beyond domain registration. We expect the one-stop-shop model will appeal to micro- and small businesses looking to establish and manage a ubiquitous online identity with integrated commerce solutions. The initial domain registration process is typically a customer's first interaction with GoDaddy and acts as an onramp for additional products. For example, entrepreneurs seeking an online presence for their idea may approach GoDaddy for a domain registration initially and as a natural extension purchase a subscription to a domain-linked email account, website building tools, and commerce solutions.

No-moat GoDaddy reported solid first-quarter results largely in line with FactSet consensus estimates for profitability and revenue. Demand for the company's offerings—particularly its AI-embedded solutions—remains resilient, as reflected in healthy growth in bookings. Strategic pricing and bundling initiatives continued to support top-line growth while also contributing to margin expansion. Noting that GoDaddy has minimal direct exposure to tariffs and, given the solid quarterly performance, management opted to maintain both its full-year guidance and investor day targets. Adjustments to our model were minimal, and as a result, we maintain our fair value estimate at $150 per share. GoDaddy shares fell 4% after hours, and we continue to view them as overvalued.

We are raising our fair value estimate for no-moat GoDaddy to $150 per share from $135 after the company reported good fourth-quarter results and provided decent 2025 guidance. GoDaddy continues to enjoy a growing mix of high-margin solutions like bundling and artificial intelligence-embedded technologies while driving strict operational discipline supported by AI efficiencies. Continued strength in bookings indicates robust demand for GoDaddy’s offerings, signaling steady top-line growth for the next few years. We have adjusted our intermediate-term revenue and profitability estimates to reflect healthy pricing and our increased confidence in the firm’s strong product attach rate. While we are impressed by the firm’s performance, we see the shares as expensive and point investors to moatier names in our coverage.

We think GoDaddy’s position as the world’s leading domain registrar creates a unique opportunity to capture demand from newly formed businesses and upsell complementary products beyond domain registration. We expect the one-stop-shop model will appeal to micro- and small businesses looking to establish and manage a ubiquitous online identity with integrated commerce solutions. The initial domain registration process is typically a customer's first interaction with GoDaddy and acts as an onramp for additional products. For example, entrepreneurs seeking an online presence for their idea may approach GoDaddy for a domain registration initially and as a natural extension purchase a subscription to a domain-linked email account, website building tools, and commerce solutions.

We think GoDaddy’s position as the world’s leading domain registrar creates a unique opportunity to capture demand from newly formed businesses and upsell complementary products beyond domain registration. We expect the one-stop-shop model will appeal to micro- and small businesses looking to establish and manage a ubiquitous online identity with integrated commerce solutions. The initial domain registration process is typically a customer's first interaction with GoDaddy, and acts as an onramp for additional products. For example, an entrepreneur seeking an online presence for their idea may approach GoDaddy for a domain registration initially, and as a natural extension purchase a subscription to a domain linked email account, website building tools and commerce solutions.

We are raising our fair value estimate for no-moat GoDaddy to $135 per share from $120 after the company reported good results for the third quarter and provided solid guidance. GoDaddy continues to enjoy a mix shift to higher-margin solutions, including bundling and artificial intelligence-embedded technologies, while achieving operational efficiencies, including leveraging AI in customer support. We nudged our near-term estimates higher, notably around profitability, which helped drive our fair value higher. Strong bookings growth continues to outpace revenue, giving us confidence in our top-line forecast over the next couple of years. While we are impressed with management’s execution, we see shares as expensive and prefer to invest in moatier names under our coverage.

We raise our fair value estimate for no-moat GoDaddy to $120 per share, from $115, following solid second-quarter results that track ahead of our prior full-year expectations. GoDaddy continues to enjoy a mix shift to higher-margin solutions while achieving operational efficiencies, including leveraging AI in customer support. Following the result, we raise our near-term forecasts to align with updated guidance, as well as our medium-term assumptions for the applications and commerce segment. However, at current prices, GoDaddy shares screen as overvalued, trading at a 25% premium to our updated valuation.

We think GoDaddy’s position as the world’s leading domain registrar creates a unique opportunity to capture demand from newly formed businesses and upsell complementary products beyond domain registration. We expect the one-stop-shop model will appeal to micro- and small businesses looking to establish and manage a ubiquitous online identity with integrated commerce solutions. The initial domain registration process is typically a customer's first interaction with GoDaddy, and acts as an onramp for additional products. For example, an entrepreneur seeking an online presence for their idea may approach GoDaddy for a domain registration initially, and as a natural extension purchase a subscription to a domain linked email account, website building tools and commerce solutions.

We think GoDaddy’s position as the world’s leading domain registrar creates a unique opportunity to capture demand from newly formed businesses and upsell complementary products beyond domain registration. We expect the one-stop-shop model will appeal to micro- and small businesses looking to establish and manage a ubiquitous online identity with integrated commerce solutions. The initial domain registration process is typically a customer's first interaction with GoDaddy, and acts as an onramp for additional products. For example, an entrepreneur seeking an online presence for their idea may approach GoDaddy for a domain registration initially, and as a natural extension purchase a subscription to a domain linked email account, website building tools and commerce solutions.

We maintain our $115 fair value estimate for no-moat GoDaddy following a robust start to fiscal 2024. GoDaddy continues to enjoy a mix shift to higher margin solutions and has taken further action to drive operational efficiencies, including reducing headcount and leveraging AI in customer support. Following the result, we have tweaked our near-term assumptions to account for an improved full-year top-line growth outlook, but this is immaterial to our valuation. At current prices, GoDaddy shares continue to screen as fairly valued.