Shares of
Hasbro Inc.
(
HAS
) reached a new 52-week high of $40.13 on Monday, Feb 11, 2013,
just after it announced a dividend hike along with its fourth
quarter 2012 results, going past its previous 52-week high of
$39.98 recorded last September.
The adjusted closing price of this toy company on Feb 11, 2013,
was $39.69, representing a modest one-year return of about 12.5%.
Average volume of shares traded over the last three months stands
at approximately 1,778K. The company has a market
capitalization of $5.15 billion as of Feb 11.
Growth Drivers
An 11% increase in quarterly cash dividend to 40 cents, which
will be payable on May 15, 2013 to shareholders of record as of
May 1, 2013 is probably the major growth driver for the shares of
Hasbro. Apart from dividend increase, regular share buybacks have
also bolstered shareholder value.
Though the company is struggling to generate higher revenues for
the last couple of quarters, we have a favorable view of the
company's persistent efforts to curtail costs and at least score
on earnings amid a sluggish operating environment. As a point of
reference, one of the major toy companies,
Mattel Inc.
(
MAT
) missed on both the lines in its fourth quarter.
Hasbro is currently on a restructuring mode involving several
brand building and cost saving initiatives. It has been
continuously forming alliances with several gaming entities and
bringing about innovations in playthings to improve its
fundamentals. From the inventory point of view also, Hasbro
remains well-positioned at the start of 2013.
Attractive Valuation
Hasbro currently trades at a forward P/E of 13.71x, a 26.8%
discount to the peer group. Again, its price-to-sales ratio of
1.27x is trading at a 3.8% discount to the peer group. The
company's return-on-equity is also quite higher than its peer
group.
Hasbro currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We prefer to
remain on the sidelines at the current level until we see any
definite sign of materialization of aforesaid initiatives.
Other Stocks to Consider
Some Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) companies from the consumer
discretionary industry that warrant a look at present include
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.
(
TTWO
) and
Nintendo Co. Ltd.
(
NTDOY
).
HASBRO INC (HAS): Free Stock Analysis Report
MATTEL INC (MAT): Free Stock Analysis Report
(NTDOY): ETF Research Reports
TAKE-TWO INTER (TTWO): Free Stock Analysis
Report
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