Hasbro Wins on Successful Earnings

Hasbro HAS is up on Monday after posting strong first-quarter earnings. The Pawtucket, Rhode Island-based firm's EPS rose 25 percent to $0.05, edging expectations of $0.04. Revenue climbed 2.3 percent year-over-year to $663.7 million, comfortably surpassing the Wall Street consensus of $638.76 million. Games Sew a Big Bag of Money Hasbro's games category jumped 26 percent during the quarter with sales of around $231 million. Among the games that grew include the legendary Twister™ (via the Twister Rave line) and Monopoly™. The company's girls category also rose sharply, climbing 23 percent on the successes of products such as Furby™ and My Little Pony™. Meanwhile, preschool products rose by a healthy eight percent while the lone downfall, albeit a steep one, occurred in the boys category, which fell 20 percent. Dividend in Shareholders' Favor, Collect $0.40 Per Share On February 6, the game provider declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.40 per share. It will be paid to investors as of the close of business on May 1 on May 15. Executives Get New Hats On February 6, Hasbro announced that then-COO David Hargreaves would become its executive vice president, corporate strategy and business development. Under the newly-created role, he'll identify opportunities for long-term growth and foster relationships with new and existing partners. Also, effective as of the said announcement, then-President of Hasbro North America Wiebe Tinga became the firm's chief commercial officer. Cat Passes Go, Iron Gets the Boot On February 6, Hasbro announced a new token for its famed Monopoly game - a cat. The cat, which was voted in by fans, will replace the 93 year-old iron. Interestingly, the “save your token” campaign, which was run on Facebook, generated responses from fans and organizations in 185 different countries. And, the game has over 10.3 million “likes” and over 33,000 people talking about it on the site. In other words, the buzz around the new token and a last-minute grab by long-time fans to get the iron before it goes cold could generate a significant boost in sales of the wildly-popular game. The updated version will first purr in mid-to-late 2013. Rolling the Dice on Jewelry On April 16, Hasbro and World Trade Jewelers announced a collaboration to create and distribute jewelry replicating select Hasbro themes, including those based on Scrabble™, Candy Land ™ and My Little Pony. The jewels will be sold through over 10,000 brick-and-mortar retail partners and associated e-commerce sites. Blasting off on Wall Street Hasbro has jumped to a 23-month high on its successful first quarter earnings. The stock has soared to around $46.50 as of this writing, its highest point since May of 2011. Hasbro is up about three percent as the week gets underway.