July 23rd, 2010 | 
Category: I am sure you all know Hasbro, or at least its products. If not, maybe this will refresh your memory: Monopoly, Potato Head, Tonka, My Little Pony, Boggle, Transformers and many others. Did it bring some old memory to life ? 
You may not have thought of Hasbro as an investment but it pays dividend and has done so since 1996. It currently pays 0.25$ per quarter for a yield of 2.50%. At first glance, it’s not much but back in February, the stock was trading at 32$ and it would now yield 3.125%.
As a comparison, its yield is currently similar to GE (NYSE:GE), Walgreen (NYSE:WAG) or Shoppers Drug Mart (TSE:SC).
Fact Sheet
Hasbro is a recent dividend payer when compared to other dividend aristocrat. It does however show some growth over the past 10 years. It’s dividend growth has been 27% over the last 5 years with an average payout ratio of 31.5%.I have to admit that the numbers are attractive for a company providing entertainment rather than essential services/commodities.
Below is the 1 year chart of their stock. 52.3% growth is not too shabby. It does, however, trade near its 52-week high of 43$.
Competitor
Mattel is the closest competitor and possibly the only big player to compete in the same market. Mattel has a larger market capitalization of 7.68B$ with a P/E of 12 and an EPS of 1.73$.
Hasbro has a market cap. of 5.83B$ with a P/E of 14 and an EPS of 2.78$.
Thoughts
As with many dividend growth investment, in the beginning your yield may not be astronomical but over time, it grows. Hasbro has an interesting portfolio of intellectual property being leveraged through many mediums such as movies, video games and television series.
It may not make the top of your list and is possibly a small player in terms of market capitalization but I thought it was an interesting company to look at.
I have to admit that if I had bought earlier in the past year, I would have probably taken my profit and call it a day.
Readers: What do you think? Is it a sector of interest? Is it too small?
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Yes, interesting Passive!
I haven't really thought too much about the consumer goods sector yet (Hasbro), but I want to diversify in the future and going to the U.S. may be my ticket. Not much here in Canada. You?
I really like that Hasbro is also making a strong push in video games. They are moving their classics (Scrabble, Battleship, Yahtzee, Life, etc) to the iPhone, Wii, and PS3. This should be a huge source of income going forward.