Hasbro 4th-quarter profit climbs on sales of boys’ toys; Transformers drive rising sales

Transformers drive Hasbro 4Q profit increase

NEW YORK — Strength in its boys’ brands like Transformers and Nerf, along with its core game brands including Scrabble and Monopoly, should boost Hasbro’s results in 2010, the company said Monday.

The owner of the G.I. Joe, Tonka and Playskool brands also said it expects sales and earnings per share to grow this year, although it didn’t offer specifics.

Combined with strong fourth-quarter earnings, the positive news sent Hasbro shares up 12 percent, and they briefly touched a 52-week high. Hasbro has seen earnings-per-share grow for nine years straight and revenue for five.

The quarter’s big sellers for boys — Transformers, G.I. Joe, Nerf, Play-Doh and Tonka — helped sales climb 12 percent to $1.38 billion, from $1.23 billion a year earlier.

“Overall in 2009, the global economic environment did not improve significantly, but it also did not deteriorate further,” CEO Brian Goldner said.

The fourth quarter is key for toy makers because it contains the holiday period and can produce up to half of their annual sales.

Transformers — boosted by the movie “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” in June — produced $592 million in revenue in 2009, a 23 percent increase over 2007, when the original “Transformers” movie debuted.

Revenue for G.I. Joe, also boosted by a summer blockbuster in 2009, totaled more than $125 million. Nerf, Play-Doh and Tonka grew 25 percent during the year.

Goldner said momentum was continuing in boys’ brands.

The company’s girls’ brands were weaker. PlaySkool and Furreal Friends sales were hurt by higher-price items in those lines in 2008 that were taken out of the line in 2009.

Fourth-quarter profit rose 77 percent to $165.6 million, or $1.09 per share, from $93.6 million, or 62 cents per share, last year. That surpassed the 81 cents per share analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected.

Sales climbed 12 percent to $1.38 billion from $1.23 billion, topping Wall Street’s estimate of $1.34 billion.

“Overall fourth quarter was very good and was much better than we envisioned,” said Wells Fargo Securities analyst Tim Conder.

Last month Barbie maker Mattel Inc., Hasbro’s chief rival, said its fourth-quarter profit rose 86 percent, helped by cost cutting, while sales edged up 1 percent to $1.96 billion.

For the year, Hasbro’s earnings grew 22 percent to $374.9 million, or $2.48 per share, compared with $306.8 million, or $2 per share, in 2008. Annual sales improved to $4.07 billion from $4.02 billion.

Shares rose $3.81, or 12.4 percent, to $34.61 during afternoon trading, after earlier reaching a 52-week high of $34.19. The stock has traded between $21.14 and $32.75 over the past year.

Associated Press Reporter Michelle Chapman contributed to this report.