If recent toy sales are any indication, people's fears about the presidential election outcome and the lack of stimulus won't stop them from buying gifts for children this holiday season.
Hasbro (HAS) Chairman and CEO Brian Goldner tells Yahoo Finance's The First Trade his company has had an impressive October despite all the external concerns — which of course includes rising COVID-19 infection counts nationwide.
"In October, we have seen high-teens [percentage] point-of-sale growth for both toys and games. We believe we'll have a good holiday season. We also believe we can grow versus last year's pro-forma numbers, with the combination of eOne Entertainment and Hasbro," said Goldner.
Hasbro shares were unchanged in Tuesday trading.
Goldner's comments come on the heels of a solid third quarter announced on Monday. Fueled by Star Wars, Magic: The Gathering and Dungeon & Dragon toys, sales at Hasbro's U.S. and Canada business rose 9% from a year ago. It's Hasbro's largest geographic region. Sales dropped 8% internationally as COVID-19 restrictions continued to weigh on shopper behavior.
Meanwhile, eOne - which Hasbro bought for $4 billion in 2019 — saw sales declined 32% as the pandemic pushed our content production.
Over at Hasbro rival Mattel (MAT), it also had a good third quarter as families stayed home during the pandemic and looked for new activities. Sales rose 10% on the back of strong gains for Barbie dolls, games and building sets.
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Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and co-anchor of The First Trade at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.
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