The toy maker posted better-than-expected revenue and profit in its latest quarter, as Star Wars and Frozen brand toys continue to drive growth.
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The No. 2 USA toymaker’s net revenue increased to $878.9 million from $797.7 million.
Sales of toys for girls grew by a whopping 35 percent in the quarter, but sales of toys geared to boys grew by just 4.3 percent – down significantly from the 24 percent gain for boys’ toys in the first quarter.
Chief Executive Brian Goldner said the category was hit due to a massive drop in sales of toys based on “Jurassic Park” and “Jurassic World” films and Hasbro would no longer make “Jurassic Park” toys from the end of 2017. Earnings growth has beaten forecasts eight quarters in a row.
Hasbro’s earnings for the second quarter of the year increased to $52.1 million, or 41 cents per diluted share per share, up 25% from $41.8 million, or 33 cents a share in the same period last year.
“We have positive momentum in both the United Kingdom and Europe heading into the second half of the year”, he said.
Toys targeted at boys, which include toys based on the “Star Wars” films and “Nerf” toy guns, accounted for 40 percent of Hasbro’s total revenue. Wall Street was looking for 39 cents and $859 million revenue.
Hasbro shares were down 5.9 percent at $80.44. “Girls toys should be paced by the inclusion of Disney Princess, which we estimate should contribute roughly $60 million of revenue in the quarter”.
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The toy giant beat analysts’ expectations for the second quarter on the back of strong performance from Star Wars, Frozen and Disney Princess toys. We look for boys toys to benefit from the global box office success of Captain America: “Civil War along with carryover for Star Wars products”. Hasbro recently acquired an Irish animation studio called Boulder Media, which has produced series for Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Disney.
