Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQGS: HAS)
Class Period: April 24, 2017 - October 23, 2017
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: November 27, 2018
Allegations: During the class period, Hasbro, Inc. made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Hasbro’s relationship with Toys “R” Us was becoming increasingly important to Hasbro’s business, as Toys “R” Us was the primary retail brick-and-mortar toy store in the United States; (2) Toys “R” Us was in far worse financial condition than was being publicly reported and it would have to dramatically scale back its operations or file for bankruptcy and liquidate; and (3) Hasbro was experiencing significant adverse sales issues in the key markets of the United Kingdom and Brazil which were negatively impacting the Company’s efforts to grow sales in those markets.
2018-11-16 22:50 ET - News Release
NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 16, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors that they have until November 27, 2018 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Hasbro, Inc. (NasdaqGS: HAS), if they purchased the Company’s shares between April 24, 2017 and October 23, 2017, inclusive (the “Class Period”). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island.
About the Lawsuit
Hasbro and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.
On October 23, 2017, the Company disclosed disappointing 3Q2017 financial results including that U.S. and Canada operations were negatively impacted by the Toys “R” Us bankruptcy, contributing to a 5% decline in operating profit to $217.3 million, or 21.9% of net revenues, compared to $228 million in 2016. Further, the Company’s CFO advised that challenges in the U.K. and Brazil would likely continue through the year with sales increasing only 4% to 7% from the fourth quarter a year ago.
On this news, the price of Hasbro stock plummeted.
According to Hasbro's Quarterly report, Oct 22, 2018
Hasbro Gaming revenue increased slightly to $280.8 million. Continued revenue gains in DUNGEONS and DRAGONS, DUEL MASTERS, JENGA and DON’T STEP IN IT, as well as new social game launches, were partially offset by declines in PIE FACE and other gaming properties. Hasbro Gaming revenues increased in the U.S. and Canada segment but declined in the International and Entertainment and Licensing segments. Hasbro’s total gaming category was up 5% to $447.8 million, including growth in MONOPOLY and MAGIC: THE GATHERING.
This is the only mention of D&D in the Hasbro quarterly report. Hasbro has made no press releases since Oct 22.
Hasbro has had a hard year:
Ha! I just finished my own evening's blog post before reading this.
ReplyDeleteThe Toys R Us bankruptcy was a big deal last year...I remember hearing more than one in-depth story about it on NPR last year (probably "Marketplace"). It's possible Hasbro's name was mentioned and I tuned it out at the time, not considering the big turnaround for their share of the RPG marketplace (small market that it is)...recall that they actually their majority pie slice to Paizo and were using 5th edition to simply claw their way back on top.
Marketing is a powerful force if you've got the money to shove it down peoples' throats. How else could Coors stay in business as long as they have? How else do you explain people continually voting against their own best interests.
I wonder if it's possible for shareholders to get an actual breakdown of sales/revenues for all of Hasbro's properties rather than just a quarterly summary...I might even be tempted to buy in. On the other hand, considering the stock never broke $50 before 2013, $88 seems pretty steep, especially if they have a history for impropriety (interesting that the Duel Masters card line appears to have been cancelled in 2014, yet is cited as an area of revenue gain in 2018).
Ah, business. What a racket.
This explains why Hasbro has been focusing more on D&D. It is one of its few bright spots.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you posted about the stock values of a game company in the same day I talked about the same thing with some friends. You can check that many other game companies had roughly the same pattern in their stocks: Hasbro, Mattel, Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts...
ReplyDeleteI found that many had a drop of 20-30% in the stock value since Jul-2017 and a spike up in Jul-2018. Many companies had various ups and downs in the last years but if you take a look in the five year period the situation is a bit different.
You'll notice I posted all this without comment. I decided to post the last year because business is a short-game. To the shareholders, what happened five years ago is irrelevant. Posting the last quarter would have been fair.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking from a player's perspective . . .
ReplyDeleteIf my cash flow is limited in some manner . . . if I feel constrained by financial pressures . . . if something in my life is preventing me from purchasing games . . .
I wonder if recreational and hobby markets are a good indicator of larger economic concerns.
Obviously, there are a ton of factors involved in this sort of thing. When you have "8.6 million" customers ~ how many of those are active? wait, we talked about that already ~ you'd think that you would a deeper, more precise breakdown in order to understand what affects their day-to-day lives, and thus what affects their ability (and willingness) to part with hard-earned cash for your product.
Makes me wonder if anyone at WotC has considered contacting Cambridge Analytica . . .