Toymaker Hasbro's turnaround efforts help first-quarter profit beat

By Savyata Mishra

(Reuters) -Hasbro reported a smaller-than-expected drop in first-quarter sales and handily beat profit estimates on Wednesday, helped by leaner inventories and steady digital gaming revenue, sending its shares up 12% in early trading.

The Play-Doh maker has taken steps to reduce expenses and more than halved its inventory over the past year to control costs amid an uncertain demand environment.

Those efforts, coupled with cost efficiencies, helped its operating margin expand to 15.3%, from 1.8% last year.

"We made solid progress in our turnaround efforts in the first quarter," Hasbro CFO Gina Goetter said.

Inventory levels remained "healthy both at retail and at Hasbro", the company said, adding it would restock going into the second quarter to support product innovation and retail shelf visibility.

The company's owned inventory was down 53% in the quarter from last year.

Hasbro is making fundamental changes to its business model and shifting to an out-license model - that allows it to outsource toy production for lower-margin brands to other toy manufacturers - which is paying off, said James Zahn, editor-in-chief at The Toy Book online magazine.

Revenue from the Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming segment grew 7% in the quarter, driven by the popularity of the company's "Baldur's Gate III" and "Monopoly Go!" games.

Its core Consumer Products unit, which brought in more than half its fiscal 2023 revenue, saw sales decline by 21%.

"We continue to expect a similar revenue decline (in the segment) in Q2, with the pace... moderating in Q3 and flipping to growth in Q4," Goetter said in a post-earnings call.

The toymaker's total revenue fell 24.3%, to $757.3 million in the quarter ended March 31, smaller than the 26.2% drop to $738.6 million estimated by analysts' on average, according to LSEG data.

On an adjusted basis, Hasbro earned 61 cents per share, beating analysts' estimate of 27 cents per share.

Hasbro kept full-year 2024 revenue targets for its segments and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, unchanged.

On Tuesday, rival Mattel posted a smaller-than-expected loss for the first quarter. Its shares rose about 5% on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Savyata Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)