Nov. 30 (Bloomberg) -- VeriSign Inc., the main manager of the Internet-address database, said the U.S. government approved a contract extending its control over Web sites ending in .com until 2012. The shares rose the most in 19 months.

The contract approved today, negotiated between VeriSign and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, allows Mountain View, California-based VeriSign to raise prices by as much as 7 percent for four out of the next six years.

The decision from the U.S. Commerce Department ends a delay of almost a year in signing the contract, after competitors including UUNet Technologies complained that ICANN awarded the business without a competitive bid. VeriSign has overseen the .com registry since 1999.

``There had been way too much speculation that VeriSign would lose the contract,'' Morgan Stanley analyst Peter Kuper said in an interview. He rates VeriSign ``overweight'' and said he doesn't own shares.

Shares of VeriSign rose $1.82, or 7.5 percent, to $26.09 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading, the second-best performer today in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. They have gained 19 percent this year.

``Shareholders are relieved that, after such an extended period of examination by the Department of Commerce, there's an agreement now in place,'' said Albert Lin, an analyst with American Technology Research, in an interview from San Francisco. He rates VeriSign shares ``sell'' and said he doesn't own them.

Overseeing .Com

As overseer of the registry, VeriSign translates the words in an Internet address, such as www.bloomberg.com, into the numbers that a computer server understands. VeriSign also works with others that sell .com addresses. Those companies pay VeriSign for the service that connects words to each correct Internet address.

``Because of the price increases, we expect an additional 10 cents in 2008 earnings, potentially growing to 94 cents, additive, in 2012,'' said Shaul Eyal, an analyst with CIBC World Markets, who today upgraded VeriSign to ``sector outperformer'' from ``sector performer.'' Eyal, who doesn't own shares, said VeriSign currently receives $6 for every active .com Web site.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rochelle Garner in San Francisco at rgarner4@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 30, 2006 16:16 EST