Tag: stock analysis

Hasbro's 52-Week High: Well, That Was Easy

Posted on by Noah Kiedrowski

Hasbro (HAS) is fresh off Q2 2019 earnings after turning the corner and going on the offensive with a slew of revenue verticals and end markets. Hasbro has its Disney toy licensing deal (Marvel, Star Wars and Disney Princess lines), Hasbro Studios (Transformers’ Bumblebee, My Little Pony, Power Rangers), E-Sports (Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: The Gathering) and reinventing its legacy games (Monopoly and Nerf) while driving newer products (Beyblades). Hasbro blew out expectations for its Q1 2019 earnings and the stock jumped 16%, breaking out above the $100 threshold, a level that hadn’t seen in over 6 months. This was followed up with its recent Q2 2019 earnings that blew away investors and the stock jumped 9% to all-time highs of over $120 per share.

Hasbro has set the post-Toys-R-Us bankruptcy narrative and laid out a business roadmap for long term profitable growth across its brands. Hasbro has had the tough task of getting out in front of the Toys-R-Us bankruptcy and working its way through the glut of merchandise. This sentiment has been bolstered by positive commentary from its CEO that the company has effectively absolved itself of the Toy R Us related bankruptcy headwind. All of this, while being fully committed to returning value to shareholders via a combination of share buybacks and dividend payouts. Hasbro has a compelling future across its portfolio with many catalysts in the near and long-term time horizons. As this turn-around was unfolding, the previous two quarters weren’t a surprise considering the year-over-year comparisons were in the midst of the Toys-R-Us fallout while the company layered-in several growth initiatives. This recent 6-month run in the stock was... well, easy!

Q1/Q2 2019 Earnings Blowouts

Hasbro posted an unexpected profit for Q1 with EPS coming in at $0.32 against expectations of -$0.11, beating estimates by $0.32 per share. Revenue also came in much higher than expected with $732.5 million and beating estimates by 66.5 million. Q2 numbers were impressive as well, EPS came in at $0.78 against expectations of $0.28, beating estimates by $0.28 per share. Revenue beat expectations as well, coming in at $984.5 million (year-over-year growth of 9%), beating Wall Street estimates by $25.6 million (Figure 1). Continue reading "Hasbro's 52-Week High: Well, That Was Easy" →

All-Time High - Growth Initiatives Propelling Disney

Posted on by Noah Kiedrowski

Disney (DIS) has broken out to all-time as their growth initiatives are beginning to bear fruit with Wall Street embracing its growth strategy and rewarding shares with a higher price-to-earnings multiple. Disney is firing on all cylinders; posting one record-setting blockbuster after another, wrestling away full ownership of Hulu, launching a branded streaming service, record revenue numbers via pricing power at its Parks and Resorts and remediation of its ESPN franchise with ESPN Plus. Disney’s Avengers: Endgame is taking the torch beyond the $2 billion box office milestone, a feat that’s only been accomplished four times, one of them being Avengers: Infinity War last. Endgame has its sights set on surpassing Avatar as the highest grossing movie of all-time. All the initiatives that Disney has taken over the previous few years to restore growth appear to be coming to fruition, namely it's Fox acquisition, and it's streaming initiatives. Disney continues to invest heavily into its streaming services (Hulu, ESPN Plus, and its Disney branded streaming service) to propel its growth and presence within this space. ESPN Plus launched less than a year ago and already has over 2 million subscribers. The company is evolving to meet the new age of media consumption demands of the modern consumer via streaming and on-demand content. I’ve been behind Disney for a long time, especially through this transition back to growth when the stock traded below $100 and I still feel that the company offers a compelling long-term investment opportunity given its growth catalysts that will continue to bear fruit over the coming years. However, given that the shares are at all-time highs in the backdrop of the longest bull market in history, caution is prudent.

New Star Wars Land

Disney has finally launched its much anticipated Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, with a dedication ceremony. The festivities included CEO Bob Iger and Star Wars legends including creator George Lucas and stars Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams, and Harrison Ford.

“Isn’t this fantastic?” Iger said as he came out in front of the full-scale Millennium Falcon. “I have been in this job for 14 years. There are some good days, but this is right up there with the best of them.” Continue reading "All-Time High - Growth Initiatives Propelling Disney" →

Hasbro Is Going On The Offensive

Posted on by Noah Kiedrowski

Hasbro (HAS) is turning the corner and going on the offensive with a slew of revenue verticals with its Disney toy licensing deal (Marvel, Star Wars and Disney Princess lines), Hasbro Studios (Transformers’ Bumblebee, My Little Pony, Power Rangers), E-Sports (Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: The Gathering) and reinventing its legacy games (Monopoly and Nerf) while driving newer products (Beyblades). Hasbro blew out expectations for its Q1 2019 earnings and the stock jumped 16% breaking out above the $100 threshold, a level that hasn’t been seen in over 6 months. Hasbro is setting the post-Toys-R-Us bankruptcy narrative and laying out a business roadmap for long term profitable growth across its brands. Hasbro has had the tough task of getting out in front of the Toys-R-Us bankruptcy and working its way through the glut of merchandise. This positive sentiment has been further bolstered by positive commentary from its CEO that the company has effectively absolved itself of the Toy-R-Us related bankruptcy headwind. Hasbro has a compelling future across its portfolio with many catalysts on the near and long term time horizons.

Q1 2019 Earnings

Hasbro posted an unexpected profit for Q1 with EPS coming in at $0.32 against expectations of -$0.11, beating estimates by $0.32 per share. Revenue also came in much higher than expected with $732.5 million and beating estimates by 66.5 million (Figure 1).

“The global Hasbro team is executing very well and delivered a good start to the year,” said Brian Goldner, Hasbro’s chairman and chief executive officer. “Our long-term investments in new platforms provided a meaningful contribution from our digital and e-sports initiative, Magic: The Gathering Arena, as well as growth in MAGIC: THE GATHERING tabletop revenues. In addition, MONOPOLY, PLAY-DOH and TRANSFORMERS were among the brands posting revenue gains this quarter. We are beginning to see improvement in our commercial markets, notably in the U.S. and Europe, and operating profit was driven by high margin revenue growth and our cost savings activities. With most of the year ahead of us, we remain on track to deliver profitable growth for the full-year 2019.”
Continue reading "Hasbro Is Going On The Offensive" →

Disney - Avengers: Endgame, Streaming, and Fox

Posted on by Noah Kiedrowski

Disney (DIS) is looking to continue off of Captain Marvel’s success with Avengers: Endgame debuting April 26th, 2019. Captain Marvel has already brought in more $1 billion in worldwide box office revenue and leading all 2019 movies by a wide margin. Disney is betting huge on Avengers: Endgame taking the torch to the $2 billion box office milestone, a feat that’s only been accomplished four times, one of them being Avengers: Infinity War last year with $2.05 billion. All the initiatives that Disney has taken over the previous two years to restore growth appear to be coming to fruition, namely its Fox (FOX) acquisition and it's streaming initiatives. The Fox acquisition is complete for the combined entity; thus Fox’s assets are now definitively being absorbed by Disney. Disney continues to invest heavily into its streaming services such as Hulu, ESPN Plus and it's soon to be released Disney branded streaming service that will directly compete with Netflix (NFLX). The Fox acquisition brings a majority stake in Hulu (60% ownership) while its ESPN Plus launched earlier this year and has over 2 million subscribers. Disney continues to dominate at the box office while posting great growth at its theme parks translating into robust and durable revenue streams. The company is evolving to meet the new age of media consumption demands of the consumer via streaming and on-demand content. Disney has been on an uptrend as of late, breaking through the $115 relative to an all-time of ~$120. I’ve been behind Disney for a long time, especially through this transition back to growth and I still feel that the company offers a compelling long-term investment opportunity given its growth catalysts that will continue to bear fruit over the coming years. Goldman Sachs recently championed Disney’s reinvention efforts and boosted its target price to $142, a 20% increase from the $115 current share price.

Goldman Sachs Backs Fox Acquisition and Future

Goldman Sachs has changed its view on Disney after the investment bank removed Disney from its buy recommendation in December of 2017. Now Goldman Sachs has come out to back Disney and labeled the stock as a buy. It's "the dawn of a new era" after the company bought the media assets of Twenty-First Century Fox, the acquisition which Goldman advised. Now the impending launch of Disney Plus marks a "momentous" shift in content monetization, though investors will need to be patient with some heavy lifting around the launch, suggests Drew Borst. Continue reading "Disney - Avengers: Endgame, Streaming, and Fox" →

Hasbro: "We're Past the Toys "R" Us Debacle"

Posted on by Noah Kiedrowski

The Toys “R” Us bankruptcy has proven to be an albatross around Hasbro’s neck despite the confident, forward-looking narrative that’s been put forth for the previous two quarters by its CEO. The recent fourth-quarter earnings were disappointing, to say the least, capping off its historically best quarter. Revenue declined on an annual and quarterly basis by 12% and 13%, respectively. Despite these Toys “R” Us headwinds, Hasbro remains confident as the company annualizes the inventory glut caused by the liquidation. Hasbro (HAS) has a compelling future across its portfolio with many catalysts on the near and long term time horizon. This confident future was reinforced with an 8% increase in its quarterly dividend payout despite its revenue declines.

Hasbro is setting the post-Toys “R” Us bankruptcy narrative and laying out a business roadmap for long term profitable growth across its brands. This sentiment has been further bolstered by positive commentary from its CEO that the company will absolve itself of this Toy “R” Us related bankruptcy headwind come 2019. There's many current and future growth catalysts for Hasbro in movie franchises such as Marvel, Star Wars and other Disney (DIS) properties (Hasbro is the exclusive toy maker), potential e-sports with Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: The Gathering, newly acquired Power Rangers franchise which will emulate Hasbro’s My Little Pony and Transformers’ Bumblebee within Hasbro Studios and its legacy games such as Monopoly and Nerf.

Jim Cramer’s Mad Money 2018 Interviews

Hasbro’s CEO Brian Goldner has had a string of interviews with Jim Cramer on Mad Money. Over the past year, Goldner has had the tough task of getting out in front of the Toys “R” Us bankruptcy and glut of merchandise. Continue reading "Hasbro: "We're Past the Toys "R" Us Debacle"" →