Hasbro Full-Year Earnings to Miss Wall Street Estimates

NEW YORK - Toy giant Hasbro said Tuesday that its full-year earnings growth came in below expectations amid a weaker-than-hoped fourth-quarter performance in the U.S. and Canada.

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The company, whose toy franchises include Transformers and G.I. Joe, said it expects 2 percent-4 percent growth in earnings per share for 2011 over the $2.74 that it had recorded for 2010.

Wall Street observers on average have projected earnings of $2.87, or $2.96 on a fully reported basis, per share on revenue of $4.4 billion.

The company, which has pushed into the entertainment business via films released in partnership with studios and via kids TV joint venture The Hub, said it expects to report approximately 7 percent revenue growth for 2011, compared with $4 billion in 2010, when it issues its final earnings report next month. That would set a revenue record, the firm said. Fourth-quarter revenue is expected to hit approximately $1.33 billion, compared with $1.28 billion in the year-ago period.

"We continue to invest in the global transformation of Hasbro's business for the medium and long-term," said president and CEO Brian Goldner in a statement. "However, Hasbro's fourth quarter revenue growth underperformed our expectations due to the weakness in the U.S. and Canada segment post-Thanksgiving. This had a direct impact on our anticipated earnings growth for the year."

Hasbro had previously promised "meaningful growth" in both revenue and earnings per share for 2011.

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com

Twitter: @georgszalai