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Hasbro posts 2Q loss
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July 23, 2001: 12:10 p.m. ET
Toymaker's revenue hurt by end of Pokemon craze, sale of interactive unit
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Hasbro Inc. reported a second-quarter loss Monday slightly ahead of Wall Street estimates as the No. 2 U.S. toymaker's sales plunged with the end of the Pokemon craze and the sale of its online gaming unit.
For the quarter ended July 1, Hasbro, which makes Playskool, Tonka and Tiger Electronics games, posted a loss of $18.3 million, or 11 cents a share, compared with a profit of $6.5 million, or 4 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts on average anticipated a loss of 13 cents a share.
Hasbro (HAS: Research, Estimates) said worldwide net revenue fell to $511 million from $778.4 million a year earlier.
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Pikachu is a character in Hasbro's Pokemon stable, which has lost popularity (Source: Hasbro) | |
Despite the quarterly loss, the Pawtucket, R.I.-based company's stock drifted higher in Monday morning trading.
Lehman Brothers analyst Felicia Kantor told Reuters Monday that she is watching the toy maker's performance in the second half of the year as it benefits from continued fiscal discipline and its new Harry Potter and Monsters Inc. products.
"Restructuring seems to be kicking in," she said. "Let's look past this to the second-half of the year."
CEO Alan Hassenfeld blamed the loss on the waning popularity of Pokemon and Furby toys and the sale of the company's money-losing Hasbro Interactive unit.
"These results are in line with our expectations and we continue to believe we are on track to deliver on our profitability goal for this year," Hassenfeld said.
The company said it was encouraged by sales of newly licensed products tied to the film "Jurassic Park III" and the children's television show "Bob the Builder."
The company also said it's looking forward to the new Disney movie "Monsters Inc.", for which it plans to have a full product line.
Hasbro stock has risen nearly 40 percent since the start of the year while the broad benchmark S&P 500 index has slipped about 9 percent in a similar period.
Last year, Hasbro sold its Hasbro Interactive and Internet portal Games.com businesses to French video games maker Infogrames for $100 million in cash and stock. The businesses had posted nearly $112 million in losses during 2000.
Last week, rival toymaker Mattel Inc. (MAT: down $0.04 to $18.45, Research, Estimates) managed to post a small second-quarter profit as its turnaround efforts started to make a mark. 
From staff and wire reports
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Hasbro
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