Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP Files Class Action Suit against Hasbro, Inc.

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP (https://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/hasbro/) today announced that a class action has been commenced by an institutional investor on behalf of purchasers of Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS) common stock during the period between April 24, 2017 and October 23, 2017 (the Class Period). This action was filed in the District of Rhode Island and is captioned City of Warren Police and Fire Retirement System v. Hasbro, Inc., et al., No. 18-cv-00543.

The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 permits any investor who purchased Hasbro common stock during the Class Period to seek appointment as lead plaintiff. A lead plaintiff acts on behalf of all other class members in directing the litigation. The lead plaintiff can select a law firm of its choice. An investors ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than 60 days from today. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiffs counsel, Samuel H. Rudman or David A. Rosenfeld of Robbins Geller at 800/449-4900 or 619/231-1058, or via e-mail at djr@rgrdlaw.com. You can view a copy of the complaint as filed at https://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/hasbro/.

The complaint charges Hasbro and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Hasbro is a global play and entertainment company that promotes its brands through immersive storytelling across mediums, including television, film, digital and more. Hasbros biggest customers are Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Toys R Us, Inc. and Target Corporation, which accounted for approximately 18%, 9%, and 9% respectively, of its consolidated net revenues in fiscal year 2016.

The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, defendants made false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose adverse information regarding Hasbros business and prospects. Specifically, defendants knew or recklessly disregarded that Hasbros relationship with Toys R Us was becoming increasingly important to Hasbros business, as Toys R Us was the primary retail brick-and-mortar toy store in the United States, and that Toys R Us was in far worse financial condition than was being publicly reported and it would have to dramatically scale back its operations or file for bankruptcy and liquidate. In addition, Hasbro was experiencing significant undisclosed adverse sales issues in two key markets “ the United Kingdom and Brazil “ which were negatively impacting the Companys efforts to grow sales in those markets. As a result of this information being withheld from the market, the price of Hasbro common stock was artificially during the Class Period to over $115 per share and Hasbro insiders were able to sell $147 million worth of their personally held Hasbro stock to the public at inflated prices.

Then on October 23, 2017, Hasbro announced its third quarter 2017 financial results for the period ended October 1, 2017. Hasbro reported that the United States and Canada were negatively impacted by the Toys R Us bankruptcy. This contributed to a 5% decline in the U.S. and Canada segment quarterly operating profit to $217.3 million, or 21.9% of net revenues, compared to $228 million, or 24.4% of net revenues in 2016. Hasbros CEO stated that, [a]s a result of the Toys R Us bankruptcy filing in the U.S. and Canada, there was a negative impact on our quarterly revenues and operating profit. And the Companys CFO warned that the challenges in the U.K. and Brazil were anticipated to continue for the remainder of the year and sales would be up only 4% to 7% from a year ago in the fourth quarter. On this news, the price of Hasbro common stock declined from $92.69 per share to $89.75 per share, a 22% decline from the stocks Class Period high of $115.95 per share.

Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of Hasbro common stock during the Class Period (the Class). The plaintiff is represented by Robbins Geller, which has extensive experience in prosecuting investor class actions including actions involving financial fraud.

Robbins Geller is one of the worlds leading law firms representing investors in securities litigation. With 200 lawyers in 10 offices, Robbins Geller has obtained many of the largest securities class action recoveries in history. For five consecutive years, ISS Securities Class Action Services has ranked the Firm in its annual SCAS Top 50 Report as one of the top law firms in both amount recovered for shareholders and total number of class action settlements. Robbins Geller attorneys have helped shape the securities laws and recovered tens of billions of dollars on behalf of aggrieved victims. Beyond securing financial recoveries for defrauded investors, Robbins Geller also specializes in implementing corporate governance reforms, helping to improve the financial markets for investors worldwide. Please visit https://www.rgrdlaw.com for more information.

https://www.linkedin.com/company/rgrdlaw https://twitter.com/rgrdlaw https://www.facebook.com/rgrdlaw https://plus.google.com/+Rgrdlaw/posts

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP
Samuel H. Rudman, 800-449-4900
David
A. Rosenfeld
djr@rgrdlaw.com