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By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com Hasbro stock (NASDAQ:HAS) was up 2.2% in premarket trading Monday as the company beat both revenue and earnings estimates in the fourth quarter and raised its dividend by 3%.
Fourth-quarter net revenue rose 17% to $2 billion.
Consumer products, the company’s core toys and games business, grew 9% in revenue, led by products for the Marvel portfolio, as well as key Hasbro brands like Transformers and Play-Doh. Revenue grew in all geographic regions. Ecommerce revenue grew 10% to $1.3 billion, totaling 29% of Hasbro toy and game revenue.
The operating margin in the consumer products business also widened on the back of price increases, which more than compensated for higher freight and distribution costs.
Revenue at the entertainment segment, the smallest of the company’s three business lines, grew the most, by 54% to near $380 million. The company relaunched the ‘My Little Pony’ brand with an animated feature film on Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX).
Wizards of the Coast exceeded $1 billion in revenue, successfully doubling two years ahead of the company’s target. Digital gaming revenue grew thanks to successful releases like ‘Magic: The Gathering’ and continued growth in ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ franchise.
Net earnings fell on higher royalties and advertising costs, but adjusted profit on a per share basis was still ahead of estimates.
Hasbro is now forecasting growth of “low-single digit” in both annual revenue and operating profit this year. The company recently lost the rights to produce Cinderella and ‘Frozen Dolls’ and other toys based on Disney’s princess lineup to Mattel (NASDAQ:MAT).
The company hopes to resume its share repurchases in the second half of 2023 or sooner. It has $367 million lying unused from a previous exercise.
