Bank of America has doubled down on a potential Hasbro stock crash as consumer confidence continues to drop amid very big concerns for both Magic the Gathering and D&D.
It wasn’t that long ago when Bank of America did a deep dive into Hasbro, and more specifically, Magic, and didn’t like what they found. However, with everything in the report and the consumer outcry to things like OGL, the anniversary proxies, and release fatigue, we thought Hasbro would listen. Well, according to BofA, they haven’t made any changes.
So, if you haven’t heard, In a pre-market report from 2022, Bank of America changed their rating of Hasbro stock from Buy to a double downgrade of Underperforming, a move that caused ripples in the market. However, things don’t seem to be looking up…
Bank of America Doubles Down on Hasbro Stock Being Bad
Well, let’s start with the most telling quote from Bank of America:
The company faces a steep decline in its share price if it continues to destroy customer goodwill. Within its Wizards segment, Hasbro continues to destroy customer goodwill by trying to over-monetize its brands.
Not only did BoA also say Hasbro is over-monetizing Magic and D&D, but they also moved down their projected stock once again.
“We remain especially cautious on Hasbro’s Wizards segment given its over-monetization of Magic. Wizards recently tried a similar tactic with D&D-proposing changes to its licensing agreement which led to substantial pushback from the community including calls to boycott the D&D movie,” BoA explained.
Now, BofA has Hasbro at $42, which is another 29% downgrade. It really feels like BofA has a good grasp on what’s happening with the company and how the community continues to push back against the constant issues.
As we’ve said before, it doesn’t really feel like Hasbro is trying to expand the player base, they are really just trying to get every last dollar out of the existing player base, and people are starting to get fed up.
We’ve talked a lot about the reserve list, $1,000 proxies, and more, but maybe the most telling thing recently is the community actually prompted Hasbro to stop the OGL licensing. Obviously, this wasn’t missed by BoA either.
Wizards recently tried a similar tactic with D&D-proposing changes to its licensing agreement which led to substantial pushback from the community including calls to boycott the D&D movie.
Not only did they boycott, but people also stopped their DDB subscriptions, and there was a petition with over 70,000 signatures against the move. While this temporarily stopped the move, you should be cautious, as they only did this to stop the bottom from falling out.
We don’t think this will be the end of it all, and BoA feels the same. However, existing players are starting to get tired of the constant releases, what’s happening on the business side, and a weak fan engagement doesn’t bode well.
We’ll have to see if Hasbro listens to Bank of America this time, or if they continue down the same path.
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About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
