Latest news with #Cocks
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
This old-school hobby is helping Hasbro defy economic headwinds
Hasbro Inc. (Nasdaq: HAS), the brand responsible for iconic games like Monopoly, Jenga, and Magic: The Gathering, saw its shares tick upward over 3% in premarket trading on Wednesday. The uptick came just after the company reported its second-quarter earnings of $1.30 per share, beating the analyst expectations of $0.78 per despite a 1% year-over-year decrease, Hasbro's adjusted revenue was posted at $980.8 million, also beating analysts' $874.6 million sales have been notably down for toy and gaming companies, Hasbro has managed to offset some of the volatility due to financial strains and tariffs. 'While tariffs represent a headwind for the business, we are compensating for these costs through a combination of cost reductions, rebalancing our marketing spend, diversifying our supplier mix, and implementing some targeted pricing actions,' Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks said on the company's earnings call, per brand is also clearly leaning in to its digital games, most notably Monopoly Go! Launched in 2023, it has quickly become the most popular digital board game, contributing $44 million in the second the biggest driver of Hasbro's recent earnings has been Magic: The Gathering. That's thanks to a recently released expansion set, Final Fantasy Universes Beyond. The set dropped in June and almost instantly shattered records, earning $200 million in one day and becoming the fastest-selling expansion in MTG Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming segment of Hasbro, which encompasses both MTG games and Monopoly Go!, saw overall revenue increase 16% year over year, Cocks spoke about the popularity of digital games and what it meant for the brand. 'As we look at the business of play, it's clear that digital is here to stay and a bigger factor than ever in how successful toy and game companies will grow and strengthen their brands,' Cocks said, noting that the brand was 'years ahead' of its competitors. Here's what happened when Albuquerque made riding the bus free Here's why Trump's proposed 401(k) executive order may be very bad news for your retirement Apple iOS 26 is now available to the public. Here's how to get it—and 5 useful new features to try Still, the fact that Magic: The Gathering games remain popular shows that community is equally as important as digital sense of community is something other gaming companies seem acutely aware of, too. Ray Adler, Mattel's VP and global head of games, recently told Fast Company about the brand's newly introduced Uno Social Club—a gaming and nightlife experience. 'Gen Z already loves Uno,' Adler said. 'They've been playing it online, at parties, everywhere. What they don't always have are opportunities to connect in the real world. So we asked: What if game night could be a whole experience?'Hasbro's stock was down 1.1% in afternoon trading Wednesday, but the brand raised its full-year guidance for 2025. It now expects mid-single-digit revenue, and predicts earnings between $1.17 billion and $1.2 billion. This post originally appeared at to get the Fast Company newsletter: Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Hasbro's Magic: The Gathering growth helps offset toy revenue drop
This story was originally published on Retail Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Retail Dive newsletter. Dive Brief: As it undergoes a turnaround effort, Hasbro's second quarter revenue dropped 1% year over year to $980.8 million, according to a company press release Wednesday. The company's 16% growth in its Wizards and digital gaming segment (which includes Magic: The Gathering) helped to nearly offset a 16% revenue drop in its consumer products category, which saw softness in toys due to 'order timing and geographic volatility,' per the release. Hasbro reported a net loss of about $854.7 million for the quarter compared to a net income of $138.5 million the year before. The company also recorded a $798 million operating loss inclusive of a $1 billion noncash goodwill impairment charge. The toy company raised its full-year guidance, now anticipating a revenue increase in the mid-single digits on a constant currency basis (compared to previous predictions that it would be 'up slightly') and an adjusted operating margin of 22% to 23% (compared to the previous 21% to 22% prediction). Dive Insight: Hasbro's Magic: The Gathering performance helped fuel the company's Q2 performance despite a tough environment for toys. 'Hasbro's return to growth in the first half of 2025 is clear validation that our Playing to Win strategy is working,' Chief Executive Officer Chris Cocks said in a statement. 'We delivered record-setting results from Magic: The Gathering, alongside strong contributions from our games portfolio, licensing partnerships, and digital initiatives.' Magic: The Gathering experienced 23% growth driven by a tabletop card game release for Final Fantasy, which debuted in June. Cocks told analysts on a Wednesday call that Hasbro had to increase production runs four times since its launch and the company even 'left demand on the table.' The executive also said that 2025 is the year Hasbro will return to growth. Tariffs remained a discussion point on the call for Hasbro, which in April had not changed its full-year guidance due to the volatile trade environment. Hasbro's inventory is up 17% year over year, according to a Q2 results presentation from the company, with production and shipments having restarted from China in May. Since then, potential tariffs on imports from China have dropped to an additional 30%, which is more 'favorable' for Hasbro though such rates remain fluid, CFO and COO Gina Goetter told analysts on the call. 'Based on our conversations with investors, expectations were high heading into the Q2 print, but [Hasbro] reported strong Q2 results,' analysts led by Jefferies said in a note shared with Retail Dive. The improved company outlook is on the back of a turnaround plan announced in February, which includes a focus on creating mid-single-digit revenue growth between 2025 and 2027, as well as adding $1 billion in gross cost savings. Sign in to access your portfolio
Fast Company
5 days ago
- Business
- Fast Company
This old-school hobby is helping Hasbro defy economic headwinds
Hasbro Inc (NASDAQ:HAS), the brand responsible for iconic games like Monopoly, Jenga, Magic: The Gathering, saw its shares tick upwards over 3% in pretrading on Wednesday. The uptick came just after the company reported its second quarter earnings of $1.30 per share for the second quarter, beating the analyst expectations of $0.78 per share. And, despite a 1% year-over-year decrease, Hasbro's adjusted revenue was posted at $980.8 million, also beating analysts' $874.66 million projection. While sales have been notably down for toy and gaming companies, Hasbro has managed to offset some of the volatility due to financial strains and tariffs. 'While tariffs represent a headwind for the business, we are compensating for these costs through a combination of cost reductions, rebalancing our marketing spend, diversifying our supplier mix and implementing some targeted pricing actions,' Hasbro's CEO, Chris Cocks, said on the company's earnings call, per CNBC. The brand is also clearly leaning into its digital games, most notably, Monopoly Go! The game, which launched in 2023, has quickly become the most popular digital board game. It contributed $44 million in the second quarter. But the biggest driver of Hasbro's recent earnings has been Magic:The Gathering. That's thanks to a recently released Magic set: Final Fantasy Universes Beyond Expansion. The set dropped in June and almost instantly shattered records, earning $200 million in one day to become the fastest-selling expansion in Magic history. The Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming segment of Hasbro, which encompasses both Magic games and Monopoly Go!, saw overall revenue increase 16% year-over-year. Last year, Cocks spoke to the popularity of digital games and what it meant for the brand. 'As we look at the business of play, it's clear that digital is here to stay and a bigger factor than ever in how successful toy and game companies will grow and strengthen their brands,' Cocks said, noting that the brand was 'years ahead' of its competitors.
Express Tribune
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Magic the Gathering's Final Fantasy crossover becomes fastest-selling set with $200M in one day
Magic: The Gathering's collaboration with Final Fantasy has become the fastest-selling set in the card game's history, generating $200 million in a single day. Released on June 13 2025, the crossover was highly anticipated by Final Fantasy fans. According to Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks during the company's Q2 earnings call, the set broke Magic: The Gathering's previous records, with demand exceeding supply. 'We couldn't produce enough,' Cocks said. 'It was substantially, by many, many very high double-digit percentages, ahead of any other production run we've ever done.' For comparison, Cocks noted that Magic: The Gathering's Lord of the Rings-themed set took six months to reach the same revenue figure that the Final Fantasy crossover achieved in one day. The release also reportedly brought more new players into trading card game shops in two weeks than any previous MTG set managed over a twelve-week period. This report comes despite Final Fantasy maintaining its own official trading card game, which continues to receive new sets. The Final Fantasy collaboration follows a series of Magic: The Gathering crossover releases, including partnerships with franchises such as Fallout and Transformers. Following this record-breaking release, Magic: The Gathering will launch its next non-collaboration set, Edge of Eternities, on August 1. Later this year, additional crossovers are planned with Spider-Man in September and Avatar: The Last Airbender in November.
CNBC
6 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
Hasbro beats second-quarter expectations as gaming division offsets tariff-fueled toy slump
Toy and gaming giant Hasbro topped Wall Street expectations for the second quarter as strength in its digital gaming division helped offset continued weaknesses in its traditional toy business, weighed down by the impact of tariffs. "While tariffs represent a headwind for the business," Hasbro's CEO Chris Cocks said on the company's earnings call. "We are compensating for these costs through a combination of cost reductions, rebalancing our marketing spend, diversifying our supplier mix and implementing some targeted pricing actions." Shares fell roughly 4% in Wednesday morning trading. Here's how the company performed in the quarter ended June 29 compared to what Wall Street was expecting. The toy company reported a net loss of $855.8 million, or $6.10 per share, for the period, compared with net income of $138.5 million, or 99 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago. Hasbro attributed the loss to a $1 billion goodwill impairment related to its consumer products segment and the impact of tariffs. Overall revenue declined 1% from the same quarter last year, but the company's gaming division continued to outperform. Wizards of the Coast and digital gaming brought in $522.4 million in sales, up 16% year over year. Hasbro cited strong demand for Magic: The Gathering and Monopoly Go! "This isn't just a one-off moment. It's a clear indication of the power of Magic's community," Cocks said. "Magic is stronger than ever, and we're just getting started." Meanwhile, the company's consumer products segment saw revenue fall 16% to $442.4 million, pressured by "anticipated softness in Toys driven by retailer order timing and geographic volatility," Hasbro said in the release. Revenue in the entertainment segment dropped 15% to $16 million. Hasbro raised its full-year guidance and now expects mid-single-digit revenue growth, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, of between $1.17 billion and $1.2 billion, and adjusted operating margins of 22% to 23%.
