Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS) early Monday posted much better than expected fourth quarter earnings, driven by continued growth in its domestic and international units.

Written by StockNews.com

The Pawtucket, RI-based toymaker reported adjusted Q4 EPS of $1.64, which was $0.35 better than the Wall Street consensus estimate of $1.29. Revenues rose 11.2% from last year to $1.63 billion, also easily topping Wall Street’s view for $1.51 billion.

For the full year 2016, HAS noted that revenues jumped 13% to $5.02 billion, marking the first time annual sales eclipsed the $5 billion level. Hasbro booked growth in all of its major segments, with U.S. and Canada sales rising 15%, International gaining 11%, and the Entertainment and Licensing segment seeing 8% growth.

The company commented via press release:

“Looking ahead, we are very well positioned to support our business. We continue investing in our industry-leading brands, our differentiated capabilities around the Brand Blueprint and in our systems to support long-term, cost efficient business growth. We ended the year with $1.28 billion in cash, inventories in line with last year, and we paid out $400 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.”

Hasbro, Inc. shares rose $4.87 (+5.89%) to $87.50 in premarket trading Monday. Year-to-date, HAS has gained 6.88%, versus a 2.60% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.

HAS currently has a StockNews.com POWR Rating of A (Strong Buy), and is ranked #2 of 9 stocks in the Entertainment – Toys & Video Games category.