<div id="subtitle">Hasbro 4th-quarter profit climbs on sales of boys' toys; Transformers drive rising sales</div><div><p>Strength in its boys' brands like Transformers and Nerf, along with its core game brands including Scrabble and Monopoly, should boost Hasbro's results in 2010, the company said Monday.</p><p>The owner of the G.I. Joe, Tonka and Playskool brands also said it expects sales and earnings per share to grow this year, although it didn't offer specifics.</p><p>Combined with strong fourth-quarter earnings, the positive news sent Hasbro shares up 12 percent, and they briefly touched a 52-week high. Hasbro has seen earnings-per-share grow for nine years straight and revenue for five.</p><p>The quarter's big sellers for boys — Transformers, G.I. Joe, Nerf, Play-Doh and Tonka — helped sales climb 12 percent to $1.38 billion, from $1.23 billion a year earlier.</p><p>"Overall in 2009, the global economic environment did not improve significantly, but it also did not deteriorate further," CEO Brian Goldner said.</p><p>The fourth quarter is key for toy makers because it contains the holiday period and can produce up to half of their annual sales.</p><p>Transformers — boosted by the movie "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" in June — produced $592 million in revenue in 2009, a 23 percent increase over 2007, when the original "Transformers" movie debuted.</p><p>Revenue for G.I. Joe, also boosted by a summer blockbuster in 2009, totaled more than $125 million. Nerf, Play-Doh and Tonka grew 25 percent during the year.</p><p>Goldner said momentum was continuing in boys' brands.</p><p>The company's girls' brands were weaker. PlaySkool and Furreal Friends sales were hurt by higher-price items in those lines in 2008 that were taken out of the line in 2009.</p><p>Fourth-quarter profit rose 77 percent to $165.6 million, or $1.09 per share, from $93.6 million, or 62 cents per share, last year. That surpassed the 81 cents per share analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected.</p><p>Sales climbed 12 percent to $1.38 billion from $1.23 billion, topping Wall Street's estimate of $1.34 billion.</p><p>"Overall fourth quarter was very good and was much better than we envisioned," said Wells Fargo Securities analyst Tim Conder.</p><p>Last month Barbie maker Mattel Inc., Hasbro's chief rival, said its fourth-quarter profit rose 86 percent, helped by cost cutting, while sales edged up 1 percent to $1.96 billion.</p><p>For the year, Hasbro's earnings grew 22 percent to $374.9 million, or $2.48 per share, compared with $306.8 million, or $2 per share, in 2008. Annual sales improved to $4.07 billion from $4.02 billion.</p><p>Shares rose $3.81, or 12.4 percent, to $34.61 during afternoon trading, after earlier reaching a 52-week high of $34.19. The stock has traded between $21.14 and $32.75 over the past year.</p><p>___</p><p>Associated Press Reporter Michelle Chapman contributed to this report.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=68707357&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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