Hasbro 3rd-quarter results beat expectations

[October 20, 2008]  PAWTUCKET, R.I. (AP) -- Hasbro says sales of its Star Wars, Playskool and Nerf toys helped boost third-quarter profit and sales above Wall Street expectations.

The maker of board games such as Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble says profit for the quarter ended Sept. 28 fell nearly 15 percent to $138.2 million, or 89 cents per share, from $161.6 million, or 95 cents, a year ago.

However, excluding a hefty tax benefit in the year-ago quarter, net income would have risen about 5 percent. Pawtucket, R.I.-based Hasbro says revenue gained 7 percent to $1.30 billion from $1.22 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected profit of 86 cents per share on revenue of $1.27 billion.

The results come as Barbie doll maker and chief rival Mattel Inc. reported lower-than-expected third-quarter profit on higher costs.

[Associated Press]

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