Dive Brief:
- Hasbro’s Q1 revenue increased nearly 13% year over year to $1 billion, according to a Wednesday press release. Net earnings doubled to nearly $200 million compared to the year-ago quarter.
- The uptick was pushed by the company’s Wizards of the Coast division, namely through player growth and expanded distribution with Magic: The Gathering.
- The company warned that some receivables would shift from Q2 to Q3 and impact cash flow due to a delay in invoicing caused by a cyberattack this spring.
Dive Insight:
Magic: The Gathering’s record 2025 year “was no fluke,” Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks said on a call with analysts. Revenue for the Wizards of the Coast segment, which oversees Magic, increased 26% in the first quarter.
The toy company says it is seeing “record demand” beyond its tabletop and digital games into live experiences. MagicCon in Las Vegas at the start of May sold over 23,000 badges, making it the company’s largest Magic event on record.
Magic: The Gathering “continues to benefit from player growth, expanding distribution, and a robust release cadence (including Marvel, Hobbit, Star Trek in 2026),” Jefferies analysts led by Kylie Cohu said in a Thursday note.
Net revenue for the company’s consumer products segment was flat at nearly $398 million, with operating loss widening to $47.5 million. The category was down 7% year over year in North America, but up 17% in Europe. The segment remains “a drag on consolidated results,” Jefferies said.
But, Hasbro leadership seems unfazed overall.
“We are encouraged by our strong start to the year and believe we are well positioned to continue the momentum and deliver on our full-year financial commitments,” CFO and COO Gina Goetter said. “The macro environment continues to require agility, including absorbing and offsetting the impact of rising oil costs across the business, which impacts our freight, resin and packaging costs.”
The impact of those higher inputs won’t be realized until the later part of this year, Goetter said.
Also in play are the effects of the cyberattack. Hasbro expects to incur about $20 million of additional, one-time operation expenses and expects between $40 million to $60 million of consumer products revenue to be delayed from Q2 to the back half of the year.
