Topic: How To Invest

Hi Pat: Could I ask your view on Hasbro? Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Hasbro, $37.75, symbol HAS on New York (Shares outstanding: 130.2 million; Market cap: $4.9 billion; www.hasbro.com), is one of the world’s largest makers of toys and games. Its key brands include G.I. Joe, Transformers, Mr. Potato Head, Nerf, Tonka and Monopoly. Hasbro also makes and sells preschool toys under the Playskool brand and games and toys for girls and boys under the Milton Bradley, Parker Bros. and Wizards of the Coast labels. The company also licenses its properties to third parties for promotional and merchandising purposes. In the three months ended July 1, 2012, Hasbro’s revenue fell 10.8%, to $811.5 million from $908.5 million a year earlier. If you exclude the negative impact of foreign exchange rates, revenue fell 7%. Earnings declined 25.2%, to $43.4 million, or $0.33 a share, from $58.1 million, or $0.43 a share. But even with the drop, the latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $0.23 a share because Hasbro did a good job of lowering its costs. The…