Hasbro, Inc.
Q3 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Published: 18 Oct 2022

Operator:

Good morning and welcome to the Hasbroâs Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. Todayâs conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. At this time, Iâd like to turn the call over to Ms. Debbie Hancock, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Debbie Hancock:

Thank you and good morning everyone. Joining me today are Chris Cocks, Hasbroâs Chief Executive Officer and Deb Thomas, Hasbroâs Chief Financial Officer. Today, we will begin with Chris and Deb providing commentary on the companyâs performance. Then we will take your questions. Eric Nyman, Hasbroâs President and Chief Operating Officer; Cynthia Williams, President of Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming; Darren Throop, President and CEO of eOne; and Steve Bertram, President, eOne Film and TV will join for the Q&A portion of the call. Our earnings release and presentation slides for todayâs call are posted on our investor website. The press release and presentation include information regarding non-GAAP adjustments and non-GAAP financial measures. Our call today will discuss certain adjusted measures, which exclude these non-GAAP adjustments. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures is included in the press release and presentation. Please note that whenever we discuss earnings per share or EPS, we are referring to earnings per diluted share. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that during this call and the question-and-answer session that follows, members of Hasbro management may make forward-looking statements concerning managementâs expectations, goals, objectives and similar matters. There are many factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements. These factors include those set forth in our annual report on Form 10-K, our most recent 10-Q, in todayâs press release and in our other public disclosures. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made today to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this call. I would now like to introduce Chris Cocks. Chris?
Chris Cocks:

Thank you, Debbie and good morning. We expected Q3 to be our most challenging quarter of 2022 based on product release and ship timings in our Consumer Products segment as well as release cadences in our Games and Entertainment businesses. Revenue for the quarter was $1.68 billion, down 12% in constant currency and down 15% at actual rates versus 2021. Adjusted operating profit was $271 million or a 16.1% OP margin, down 31%. Revenues were impacted due to innovation timing, including later product releases in NERF and games this year versus last, accelerated direct import shipments in our Consumer Products segment, which shifted revenues from Q3 to Q2 and release calendar more heavily Q2 and Q4 weighted for our Wizards and Digital Gaming and Entertainment businesses. We have also seen the average consumer become increasingly price-sensitive as the year has progressed, impacting point of sales trends. Promotions and entertainment field demand have become increasingly important and will be key in the quarters ahead. For instance, our most recent Prime Day last week saw Hasbro volume increased mid double-digits year-over-year, among the top toy and game performances. The ongoing growth of key brands like Peppa Pig and My Little Pony speak to the power of driving great entertainment to reach audiences and inspire demand. In Q4, we will be kicking off an unprecedented lineup of entertainment, starting with Marvel Studiosâ Black Panther
Deb Thomas:

Good morning everyone. The third quarter results reflect the timing shifts we have forecasted since early in the year. These include release timing for Magic
Chris Cocks:

Thanks, Deb. Before we turn to Q&A, let me take a minute to recognize Darren Throop. Today is Darrenâs last earnings call as he is leaving Hasbro at the end of the year. Darren grew eOne into an accomplished studio with strong talent, a rich library of content and production capabilities across mediums. Over the past few years, he has served an invaluable role in the integration of eOne with Hasbro during an unprecedented environment. The D&D film next year and the robust pipeline in development is the direct result of his hard work. Thank you, Darren, for your leadership, and we wish you tremendous success in the future. Now we will take your questions.
Operator:

Thank you. Our first question today comes from the line of Eric Handler with MKM Partners. Please proceed with your question.
Eric Handler:

Good morning. Thanks for the question. I guess start with Eric. Wonder if you could talk a little bit about the state of retail right now. Last quarter, we had a bunch of pull forwards with direct shipment. This quarter, weâre talking about higher allowances and promotional activity. Are a lot of the issues just isolated with NERF and gaming or is there some sort of broader macro situation going on here?
Chris Cocks:

Well, Eric, hey, first off, thanks for the question and good morning. I will turn it over to Eric, as you asked. Generally speaking, weâre seeing a great partnership with our retail partners. We have a very high percentage of our promotions and advertising budget focused on Q4 with our new innovation coming out. And so we remain optimistic about what our prospects look like for that new innovation and what it sets us up for 2023 and beyond. Eric, Iâll turn it over to you for the balance.
Eric Nyman:

Sure. Thanks, Eric, for the question. Maybe just to build on what Chris is saying, Eric, as we roll into Q4, we talked about how specifically for Hasbro our big innovations were back half loaded. We feel very positive about the innovations that weâve recently launched. And if you look at retail right now, we started off quarter four with the big promotion with Amazon where they did their Prime Day early access sale, and Hasbro performed very strongly. So I think you will see a promotional environment in Q4. We built excellent programs around the world with all of our retail partners. And I expect that weâll continue to see POS momentum as we go forward.
Eric Handler:

Great. And then just as a follow-up going on a completely different topic. As we look to next year and the opportunities for growth for DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, today, D&D, correct me if Iâm wrong, itâs been mainly a North American-driven product. Weâll have a global movie launch for the brand. Wondering if you could talk about some of your international growth strategies and how â where you think you can attack best and sort of expanding the addressable market for the game?
Chris Cocks:

Yes. Weâre certainly bullish about D&Dâs prospects. The film has had a fantastic introduction at Comic-Con. I think itâs one of the highest viewed trailers that Paramount has ever released. Thereâs a nice buzz about it, both at Comic-Con and on the general Internet and among fans. And so we think thatâs going to be a great launching platform for international expansion and category expansion across licensing, merchandising, digital games as well as driving the core business. I think Iâll turn this one over to Eric. And then, Cynthia, if you have anything to add, feel free about the international dimension to Ericâs question.
Eric Nyman:

Sure. Yes, Eric, I think we talked a bit at Investor Day how we see this event, the scale to be determined, but similar to how we saw Transformers when we launched theatrical behind that brand in 2007. We have a great expansion across new categories of product where Cynthia has done, along with the Wizards team, a terrific job in the publishing genre. But weâre really excited about expanding D&D behind the theatrical launch into action figures. We have a terrific line that the team has put together. We have a line of NERF products that weâre very proud of as well as core games. So youâll see D&D go into more of a board game genre for the first time with Hasbro. So we do feel really positive about the category expansion and with that geographic expansion. So as you can imagine, the teams around the globe are very motivated to make sure that we have a positive win on the board with D&D in Q1 of next year. Cynthia, do you want to add anything to that?
Cynthia Williams:

Yes. The one thing I would add is when you think about DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Beyond and being the premier digital toolset for , it gives us a great opportunity to expand both internationally, but also the tools and capabilities we give all of our players, itâs going to give us a wonderful opportunity to monetize more of our player base than the Dungeon masters that we are monetizing today.
Eric Handler:

Great. Thank you very much.
Operator:

Our next question comes from the line of Arpine Kocharyan with UBS. Please proceed with your question.
Arpine Kocharyan:

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. I have a quick clarification maybe. The guidance for full year before today implied Q4 could be down 3% to up 6%, which at midpoint would imply some growth in Q4. And today, revenue guidance is flat year-over-year. Did something actually change in your outlook versus what you said on Analyst Day or thereâs actually no change how you were seeing Q4 to play out? How to look at it from where we sit? And I have a quick follow-up.
Chris Cocks:

No problem. Good morning, Arpine. Thanks for the question. Yes, our outlook has not changed since our Investor Day. We continue to feel like thereâs a lot of green shoots in the portfolio. Thereâs some exciting innovation coming out across NERF, across games, a ton of innovation coming out on Magic
Arpine Kocharyan:

Thank you. Thank you. And then in the slides, you noted expectations of North America POS improvement. Does that mean youâve started seeing some improvement outside of those 2 days of Prime Day overall or expect Q4 to record overall improvement when all said and done versus Q3 because to finish inventory up low single digits, say, up 2% would mean positive POS in Q4? Am I actually calculating that correctly? Am I thinking about it correctly that you need to see sort of POS come close to positive in Q4?
Chris Cocks:

Yes. So thereâs two components to inventory. Thereâs Wizards of the Coast and Digital, which we have a lot of set releases coming out. So there will be some decline in inventory there that should be fairly significant. And then thereâs what our Consumer Products team is doing. Iâm going to turn it over to Eric to talk about recent POS trends that weâre seeing across the G5 markets and North America.
Eric Nyman:

Yes. Thanks, Chris. Thanks, Arpine. Yes, with regards to POS and market share, we talked quite a bit at Investor Day about how Q4 was really our focus, and weâre back half loaded with regards to innovation. Weâre seeing, as Chris mentioned, good green shoots at this point, in addition to just Amazon and the Prime Day early access sale. So for example, across the EU 5, Australia, our market share and POS trends are improving, flat to slightly up over the last month. And weâre also seeing the same level or different levels but positive improvement in the U.S. over the past several weeks. And thatâs something that weâre obviously motivated to continue to build on.
Chris Cocks:

And it should be noted, 67% of our advertising and promotional budget is in the remaining, what, 12 weeks left of the year.
Eric Nyman:

Q4.
Chris Cocks:

And so weâve seen a highly promotional sensitive environment. Actually, the markets where weâre seeing the best share trends are where we started a little earlier on that promotion.
Arpine Kocharyan:

Thank you very much. It is super helpful. Thanks.
Chris Cocks:

Sure.
Operator:

Our next question is from the line of Drew Crum from Stifel. Please proceed with your question.
Drew Crum:

Okay, thanks. Hi, guys. Good morning. So I have two questions on Wizards. Maybe to start, last quarter, you suggested the segment would perform at the upper end of your guidance range, which was low double digits growth. Today, youâre suggesting high single digits growth. What has changed versus the previous commentary? Is this a business thatâs seeing any sensitivity around price that you alluded to earlier? And then I have a follow-up.
Chris Cocks:

Yes. So Iâll take that. And Cynthia, feel free to fill in anything that I might not cover. Weâre continuing to see the Wizards of the Coast business performing well, particularly the Magic business, which year-to-date is up 5%, whereas the general games category are down as low as much as negative 8%, depending on which source you look at. So Magic is a great fan base, very resilient. And we find the fans in the Magic segment and in our overall collector segment, they have a great personal balance sheet and a capacity to spend when theyâre motivated and driving something that they really enjoy. And so thatâs kind of like underscoring the bullishness on our outlook on Magic moving forward. Our digital business has been a little softer year-over-year, in line with the rest of the Digital Gaming category. DUNGEONS & DRAGONS has performed well. But again, we donât have a comp of the premium game that we launched with Dark Alliance next year. And we continue to have a little bit of play in logistics around kind of access of card stock and production because the general trading card market, whether itâs sports collectibles or playable trading cards remains a hot and very resilient category. Cynthia, anything to add on the outlook?
Cynthia Williams:

I think the other thing Iâd say is just what a great lineup we have for Q4, kicking off with this â we have Warhammer 40,000 from our universes beyond, Brothers Wars coming up, two strong secret layers, one featuring the platinum selling music artist Post Malone, the other being a 30th anniversary countdown kit. And of course, weâve got the high-end collectible Magic 30th Anniversary Edition, which was inspired by Magicâs beta set and includes some of Magicâs really iconic cards like Black Lotus. And finally, Iâd say all five tentpole releases weâve had this year have all done more than $100 million in revenue. And this is the first year thatâs happened.
Drew Crum:

Okay. Thanks, very helpful. And then my follow-up is more longer term focused, mobile as a category has been pretty challenged over the last 18 months. As you think about the next several years, is this going to be a focal point for investment spend across this segment? Thanks.
Chris Cocks:

Well, as we talked at our Investor Day, we have a plan to double the size of the Wizards of the Coast and Digital segment over the next 5 years by 2027. That growth will be powered by continued resilience in our tabletop business and brands like MAGIC and D&D. But weâre planning to double the percentage of the segment thatâs driven digitally. And we have a fairly balanced approach to how we think about where our digital investments are. We have a large and growing license business, where the majority of our mobile products are done. We work with some of the best names in the business, Scopely being one very big one. And then weâre leaning in a lot into games as a service or game platforms as a service like we have with D&D Beyond as well as a bunch of really high-caliber studios that are building some great AAA games that weâre looking forward to sharing more about over the coming quarters. So while the digital games market might have its ups or downs in any given quarter or any given year, I think the trend is decisively in the direction that interactive entertainment is the future of entertainment. And I like how weâre positioned as a company.
Drew Crum:

Got it. Thanks, Chris.
Operator:

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Megan Alexander with JPMorgan. Please proceed with your question.
Megan Alexander:

Hi, thanks for taking our question. I want to spend some time on Consumer Products and maybe how youâre thinking about it beyond 4Q. You expect inventory up low single digits. Previously, you had expected it flat. You do talk about a lot of entertainment and innovation coming next year. But how do you think about the risk of retailer destocking, especially in the first half, as youâre lapping some late-arriving shipments last year? And then how should we think about the phasing of the brands you expect to exit and move to licensing revenue? Should that flow in commensurately?
Chris Cocks:

Yes. So a couple of things. Iâll start and then turn it over to Eric. And thanks, by the way, for the question, Megan. First off, in the beginning of the year, we and the entire industry were chasing inventory at retail after a difficult holiday season. Itâs a big reason why we pushed inventory into the Q2 period to make sure that we didnât have that again so that we could promote aggressively in Q4 like our plan is today. I think the other thing to note is we have a lot of new innovation thatâs very on trend thatâs coming out in Q4 that we think will comp very favorably in the first half of next year. And then last but not least, I think whatever happens on the macroeconomic front, we have seven blockbuster films and 20 TV shows coming out that are very front half loaded that are giving us a tremendous amount of tailwinds to be able to handle whatever curve balls that the economy might throw our way. Eric?
Eric Nyman:

Yes. I think excellent points. And I think if you look at the trends that we have seen, Megan, we continue to believe in our lineup for 2023. Retailers, regardless of macro trends, are always very interested in supporting and promoting our great entertainment and our partnersâ great entertainment. So, at risk of repeating, when you have a lineup like ours next spring, which starts with The Mandalorian 3 from our partners on Disney+, we then have all those movies that Chris talked about from Ant-Man and the Wasp, Quantumania, D&D, which we talked about already Honor Among Thieves, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3, Across the Spiderverse in June, Transformers later in June, Indiana Jones at the end of the month in June, turning into July and then the Marvels, which was recently announced on Disney+ Day by the Disney folks. Thatâs a heck of a lineup and we have products and great programs supporting all of them. So, we do expect that we will have a really nice start to retail going through Q1 and Q2 in that mid-term period that you asked about going into next year.
Megan Alexander:

Awesome. So, I guess just to tie that all together, is it fair to expect that you believe consumer products can be up next year despite exiting some of the brands that you have talked about?
Eric Nyman:

Yes. I think thatâs right, Megan. When you look at what we are doing as a business, what we do â what we certainly expect is that we are going to see some good growth, particularly across our action brands next year, which is really the predominance of what I just highlighted. And I also want to point out that a big reason for what we are doing from a strategic standpoint is to improve our profit story. So, certainly, from a consumer product standpoint, we not only expect to have that improvement that you asked about with regards to net revenue, but we expect and we will continue to focus on that operating margin expansion, which you will see from the consumer products unit next year as we exit businesses, but also work on our operational excellence program that both Chris and Deb mentioned in their opening remarks.
Megan Alexander:

Awesome. Thank you. And then maybe a quick follow-up for Deb, the guide implies 4Q operating margin above 3, which is usually typical for your business. Is that all mix to Wizards and then the cost savings you have talked about, or are there some additional drivers of improvement? I guess maybe more specifically, like how should we think about whatâs built into the guide from a cost of sales perspective in terms of are you confident the inventory actions you have taken in 3Q are sufficient, or is there further risk in 4Q?
Deb Thomas:

Thanks Megan. No, as we talked about is we have a very strong mix of revenue. Much of that inventory we have on hand now coming from our different groups. We are actually seeing reduced distribution costs. So, we are seeing some things come down now on the distribution side. I think all supply chain is easing up a bit. The one exception, I would say, is still paper, which is still a bit of a challenge. And we have stocked up on paper so we can make sure we have supply. So, you are seeing some of that in our inventory balance as well. So, between mix, our cost savings, we will start to see the benefit of cost savings. In fact we have said we are going to see about $20 million of that impact predominantly coming in the fourth quarter. And a big piece of that is actually coming in consumer products as well. So, between mix, cost savings, actions weâve taken to-date to make sure we have product on stock, thatâs how we look at our margin for the fourth quarter and why we remain confident in the fact that we can hit 16% on a full year basis.
Megan Alexander:

Thank you.
Operator:

Our next question comes from the line of Mike Ng with Goldman Sachs. Please proceed with your question.
Mike Ng:

Hey, good morning. Thank you for the question. I just have two. First, I want to follow-up on Ericâs question and just ask about some of the commentary around closeouts and allowances and promotional activity. Was that concentrated in any particular brand or category, or was this an industry-wide toy issue that other players may have seen? And then second, I was just wondering if you could talk a little bit about the Disney Princess impact to revenue and margins within consumer products. Is that a product that is effectively winding down and approaching zero? And is that the right way to think about it for the fourth quarter? Thank you.
Eric Nyman:

Sure. Thanks Mike. Itâs Eric. Good morning. Want to see you at Hasbro. I will answer in order. And if I forget anything, you can jump in again, Mike. But your first question was about closeouts, allowances and promotional activity. I would say we pride ourselves on making sure that we continue to stay ahead of our inventory situation. And as we worked through Q3, as Chris already mentioned, we brought in some inventory in Q2. And we wanted to make sure that we started early activations with our retail partners, which we did. I expect Q4 to be in line with where we have been and we will work through our inventory again to finish the year in that low to mid-single digit area that we talked about. And thatâs what is built into our story that we have already discussed this morning. I think with regards to businesses we are exiting, which is the second part of your question, we do expect that as we exit those businesses, both this year in Q4 as well as throughout next year, that we will manage that decline through the growth in other brands focused on our Franchise Brands. We talked a lot at our Investor Day on fewer and bigger as our strategy, and thatâs not going to change. So, you are going to see us with that growth in those Franchise Brands and the Partner Brands that we are going to stay behind like Star Wars and Marvel. And we are going to exit some others. And as we exit some of those other brands, as I already mentioned to a prior question, you will see an increase in operating margin. So, I think itâs an excellent thesis to invest in for Hasbro.
Mike Ng:

Great. Thank you for the thought.
Eric Nyman:

Thanks Mike.
Operator:

Our next question is from the line of Fred Wightman with Wolfe Research. Please proceed with your question.
Fred Wightman:

Hey, guys. Good morning. I just wanted to follow-up on sort of Chris and Ericâs comments about the price sensitivity and maybe dig into what that means for how you guys are thinking about price in the CPG business. Eric, you sort of gave some color on â23, but then you guys also have this mid-term target about 15% within that CPG business. So, given some of that softer consumer backdrop, is price still a lever you guys feel confident about, or is it more mix and cost saves that get you there?
Chris Cocks:

Yes. Well. Hi. Thanks for the question. No, I think itâs a couple of things. So, as we look at price, we look at a couple of different factors. First, we look at consumer segmentation. And so you have the mass consumer, and then you have the collector and the fan segment. Collector and the fans segment tends to be very price inelastic. Itâs a very resilient segment thatâs very passion-driven. And as long as you build a great product and a great play system and continue to invest behind it, we find our fans stick with us. And thatâs been a major driver of growth for us. Our two fastest-growing businesses this year are our pulse business and Magic
Eric Nyman:

Yes. I think if I could add to that, Fred, I think the other thing that you are seeing in the industry right now is that brands are more resilient and private label is not. In fact we have seen a lot of noise in the industry over the last, call it, quarter where retailers are closing out a lot of private label, shifting that private label to closeout shops around the country and around the world. So, I think for us, we are clearly a branded house, and we have some very strong brands at Hasbro. And we are seeing pricing sticking and being able to be stronger through this environment. And as Chris mentioned, a lot of that is due to the consumer and the way that we segment our consumers.
Fred Wightman:

Makes sense. And then just a quick follow-up, the mid double-digit POS that you guys touched on for Prime Day, is that on a year-over-year basis? Are you comparing that to prior Prime Days? What exactly is the comparison there?
Chris Cocks:

Yes. Prior Prime Days.
Fred Wightman:

Okay. Thank you.
Operator:

Our next question comes from the line of Linda Bolton-Weiser with D.A. Davidson. Please proceed with your question.
Linda Bolton-Weiser:

Yes. Hi. My question is on the Entertainment segment and the projection or outlook for fourth quarter. Sorry if you explained it already, but it looks to me like the Film and TV segment has just as hard, even a harder comparison in the fourth quarter. So, then can you just reiterate again what are the specific things that are going to happen in the fourth quarter to make the decline smaller against a harder comparison? And then the second thing is the shifting of certain things into the first quarter of 2023, what causes that shifting? Is that just production delays or personnel issues or what is that exactly? And is there anything you can do to rectify that phenomenon in the future? Thanks.
Chris Cocks:

Hi. Thanks, Linda. Yes. So, our Entertainment segment has a very strong lineup in Q4, particularly in TV productions. Now, the nature of TV productions often have with whatâs the dating with the network. And so we are seeing a little bit of slippage on when things are being dated inside of the streamers or the various networks that we are working with. That affects payment timings and delivery timings of the content. And thatâs what I think you see going on in Q4 of this year. That said, we see our Entertainment segment ex music being down about mid-single digits, maybe high, low â maybe low-single digits. But a lot of that is just deferred revenue that goes from Q4 into Q1 and points to continued growth and good prospects in 2023.
Linda Bolton-Weiser:

Okay. Thank you very much.
Operator:

Our next question comes from the line of Gerrick Johnson with BMO Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.
Gerrick Johnson:

Hi. Good morning. I have a couple here. First, I just wanted to clarify what you are saying on inventory because sometimes I am confused as to whether you are talking about company inventory or channel inventory. So, whatâs the channel inventory situation look like right now or at the end of the quarter? And where do you expect that to be at the end of the year? Is that whatâs supposed to be up low to mid single-digits?
Chris Cocks:

So, Gerrick, when we talk about inventory, we talk about company inventory. And we talk about it across our CP and Wizard segments. So, as Eric mentioned, we see the CP inventory up either low-single digits or mid-single digits. And we see our Wizards inventory likely down in Q4, which contributes to up low-single digits for a company as a whole. I will turn it over to Deb to talk about where we see the broader mix of inventory across our channel partners.
Deb Thomas:

Right. So, retail inventory is up, as we said at the end of the quarter, but itâs of good quality. And we have a lot of promotional activity planned for the fourth quarter. So, our specific guidance was on our inventory is exactly as Chris said. But retail inventory, we are working with our retailers on promotional activity, and much of it was setting for a lot of this new innovation that we are having in the fourth quarter.
Gerrick Johnson:

Okay. Thank you. And I will add on to what Mike was asking about closeouts and obsolescence. Perhaps you could pinpoint exactly where those issues were and also, Deb, perhaps sales allowances as a percent of consumer product sales this year compared to last year. How did that look?
Deb Thomas:

Sure. Well, let me take the sales allowance question. And then I can answer some of the closeout question, and then Eric can as well. But we are seeing price allowances a bit higher, all sales allowances period, right, whether price or not a bit higher this year than last year. And the reason for that is if you think about it, we couldnât even get stock last year. So, our retailers were selling what they could get for less promotional activity with the consumer, and that was the consumer takeaway last year. So, this year I would say we are returning to a more normal level of sales allowances. Nothing unusually high, but last year was unusually low. And we talked about that and the benefit from that. With respect to just certain territories, we have had some high levels of inventory in pockets that just werenât working that well. So, as we look around the globe, we have moved some of that inventory. Some of itâs been in the U.S., but some of itâs been in various places in Europe and in certain territories, particularly in the Pacific region.
Eric Nyman:

Yes. I would also just add, Gerrick, that we have some Q4 elements that we didnât have from a comp last year. So, not only are we comping a fairly non-traditional comp, as Deb mentioned, we were in chase mode significantly last year. But we also have a big theatrical movie this fourth quarter with Wakanda Forever from Disney. And thatâs something that we didnât have in Q4 last year as well as some new brands. Last year, we were really at the very early stages of our eOne integration of PEPPA PIG and PJ MASKS and now we have really good flow for that inventory. So, we are feeling good again about where we are. And I think, as Deb mentioned, it will be a traditional sales and allowances cadence as we work through inventory this fourth quarter.
Gerrick Johnson:

Okay, great. Thank you.
Chris Cocks:

Thanks Gerrick.
Eric Nyman:

Thanks Gerrick.
Operator:

Thank you. Our final question, this is coming from the line of Jason Haas with Bank of America. Please proceed with your question.
Jason Haas:

Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. First, I am curious if you could provide some outlook by segment for next year. I think at your recent Analyst Day, you talked about consumer products being up low-single digits, Wizards high-single digits to low-double digits, and then I think entertainment was up low-single digits. So, is that a good framework to use? I know that was a multiyear target. Is that a good framework to use for next year?
Chris Cocks:

Jason, we havenât shared a specific by segment guidance for next year. We only shared kind of longer term 2025 to 2027 guidance. That said, we feel really good about where we are positioned for consumer products, both on the innovation we have coming out this Q4 and how that comps into the first half of next year, a stacked entertainment lineup, which creates a lot of tailwinds for us that I think more than compensates for the business exits that we have. And then we continue to believe in our Games segment. And as we just talked, entertainment is going to have some revenue that moved out from Q4 into Q1, which certainly represents at least a modest tailwind helping that business as well.
Eric Nyman:

Yes. I would also just add, Jason, as you think about the future, I do want to mention, since we havenât talked much about it, our operational excellence program and just note that we believe we will be a stronger, more disciplined, more profitable company going forward. And we have the $250 million to $300 million cost savings plan in that mid to longer term outlook that we feel very confident in as well.
Jason Haas:

Great. Thank you. And then as a follow-up, there has been some investor concern that there is maybe been too many Magic releases in a short timeframe. There is some talk of wallet fatigue among the players out there. We have seen the secondary market prices come down a bit. So, I am curious just whatâs your response to that concern that there is just a lot of Magic product coming all at once?
Chris Cocks:

Well, we have had a great growth for Magic
Cynthia Williams:

Yes. I think a couple of things that I would say is we did have one of our products sort of slip out a little bit into Q3, which was Infinity. And that was a supply chain issue. But other than that, our releases that are coming up for this year with Brothers War with our secret layer drops, which are direct-to-consumer, our Magic 30th edition is also direct-to-consumer. So, I would say that within the channel, you have got the same number of sets happening in a year in the hobby channel. They have just shifted a little bit in timing due to some supply chain issues.
Chris Cocks:

And I would say just one last thought as you think about Wizards. Magic has been incredibly important to the growth of Wizards, but D&D â as much as Magic has grown, D&D since the release of fifth edition back in 2014, gosh, itâs probably 10x the size it was back then. And we have an amazing roadmap ahead for D&D with AAA films, some exciting TV projects that we are going to announce shortly, AAA video games, big partnerships, huge merchandising and licensing efforts. And so I really think that Wizards of the Coast is positioned to become a two foundation business over the next several months. That just will get better and better, driving our blueprint over time.
Jason Haas:

Good to hear. Thank you.
Chris Cocks:

Thanks.
Operator:

At this time, I will turn the floor back to Debbie Hancock for closing remarks.
End of Q&A:
Debbie Hancock:

Thank you, Rob, and thank you everyone for joining the call today. The replay will be available on our website in approximately two hours, and managementâs prepared remarks will be posted following this call. Thank you.
Operator:

This will conclude todayâs conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

Hasbro, Inc. Q3 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Other Hasbro, Inc. earnings call transcripts:

Hasbro, Inc.
Q3 2022 Earnings Call Transcript