Shares of Hasbro (HAS) are higher by $3.44, or 11%, at $34.24 this morning after the toymaker reported Q4 revenue rose almost 12%, year over year, to $1.38 billion, comfortably ahead of the $1.34 billion average estimate, yielding profit per share of $1.09, a full 28 cents better than expected.
On a conference call with analysts, Hasbro management said, “we believe we should be able to grow revenues and earnings per share for the full year 2010.” That’s a surprise for Wall Street, which has been modeling both sales and profit to decline this year.
Clearly, a big part of the upside in the quarter was the cap on advertising, with ad spending down at $133.6 million versus $140 million a year earlier. On the call, management said the company expects to continue to manage expenses “closely” this year, with general economic recovery “at a cautious pace,” and tha
Hasbro management offered no formal forecast, but spoke bullishly this morning on a conference call with analysts about toys based on upcoming movies, including “Iron Man II” and “Toy Story III.”
Management was also upbeat about the company’s deal with Lucas Film for the “Star Wars” series, remarking that the saga is expected to continue its run on television in 2011. 2011 will also bring “Transformers III,” management said, as well as features from Walt Disney’s (DIS) Marvel Comics unit, “Thor” and “Captain America.”
The company also noted that due to the shifting nature of the securitization market, it didn’t make use of its securitization facility for its receivables in Q4 and doesn’t expect to securitize this year.
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