Hasbro Shares Rise On Analyst Upgrade

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of toy maker Hasbro Inc. rose on Monday, after an analyst said the company has strong product cycle coming up in 2011 and upgraded the stock.

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Drew Crum said in a note to investors that the company's upcoming product cycle is "compelling," since it has toys tied in to several upcoming movies. Movie-related toys tend to sell well.

In 2011, Hasbro will have toys tied to Transformers 3, three Marvel films including Spider-Man 4 and two Universal pictures.

Crum said investors seem "fixated on 2010 now but we believe the market will shift focus to 2011 soon."

He added that there will also be more news and information about the company's joint venture TV network with Discovery Communications soon since it launches in the fall of 2010. That could help the stock as well since the deal has been a "drag on the stock for most of 2009," he said.

Finally, Crum said Hasbro's shares have underperformed its peers and the market, but that trend is not likely to continue, he said.

He upgraded the stock to "Buy" from "Hold" and added it to the Stifel Nicolaus Select List. He also established a $40 price target on the stock.

Shares rose 92 cents, or 3.3 percent, to $28.83 in midday trading. The stock has traded between $21.14 and $29.91 over the past year.

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