Hasbro Plans to Blow Away the Minds of Every Toy-Loving Child in America This Year
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Version 0 of 1. Editors' pick: Originally published Feb. 17. Fresh off another stellar year, Hasbro (HAS) has no intentions of taking its foot off the gas pedal. From enormous new Nerf blasters to electronic helmets inspired by Disney's (DIS) Star Wars franchise to a range of new Transformers movie-based action figures, the toy maker will bring its A-game to the toy aisles of Walmart (WMT) , Toys R' Us and other retailers this year. "We are doing more storytelling than ever before," Hasbro Chairman and CEO Brian Goldner told TheStreet in an interview ahead of this week's toy fair. To be sure, Goldner has an impressive set of results to try and surpass. Hasbro reported better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings of $1.64 a share on $1.6 billion in sales. For the full year, the company posted adjusted earnings of $4.46 a share, higher than last year's $3.51 a share. Sales clocked in at $5.02 billion, a 13% increase from a year ago. The results can be attributed to Hasbro winning the manufacturing rights to Disney Princess this year, which boosted the company's partner brands revenue by 31%. Hasbro's Pie Face Showdown, in which two players compete to find which will be smushed in the face by a dollop of whipped cream, was also Amazon's (AMZN) best-selling toy in November, helping to contribute to the 4% rise in the company's games segment for the year. Also helping Hasbro is that toy industry remains on solid footing. The U.S. toy market grew 5% to $20.36 billion last year, according to The NPD Group. In 2015, sales rose 7%. |