JAKKS Pacific (NASDAQ: JAKK) didn't toy around during the holiday quarter -- it got serious and delivered some solid growth. For the fourth quarter, JAKKS increased its top line by nearly 20% to $285.1 million. Earnings per diluted share jumped 45% to $1.06.

The company cited various members of its toy portfolio as drivers for the Q4 season, including those joystick videogames that you plug directly into the TV -- you've got to admit, those are pretty fun, especially the one with Galaxian. Also, the company mentioned that items based on Disney (NYSE: DIS) properties turned out to be big helpers during Christmas. And, yes, they had to mention Hannah Montana -- they have a plug-and-play joystick title based on the pop princess. Sure, she's a fad, but she's still going strong for now.

JAKKS may play in the highly competitive world of toys, but it's definitely doing all right, even as it fights it out in the trenches with biggies Mattel (NYSE: MAT) and Hasbro (NYSE: HAS). It focuses on building little unique niches for itself, and it knows how to effectively work the licensing game; in addition to Disney stuff, JAKKS makes products based on Viacom's (NASDAQ: VIA) Nickelodeon characters and Neopets universe. The stock doesn't look too expensive here, so it's worth a look if you are looking to gain some exposure to retail toys, although I'd probably keep it on a watch list in anticipation of a pullback.

Disclosure: Steven Mallas owns shares in Disney.

JAKKS Pacific had a merry holiday season originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Richard Siklos in this week's Sunday New York Times evaluates the new abilities of old media companies in rapid-fire succession. News Corp: props for their speedy purchase of MySpace. Walt Disney: so smart to be first mover in putting ABC TV on iTunes. Time Warner: a "paradox" with AOL, big property, big challenges. Viacom: good track record, cute little acquisitions like Neopets and iFilm. CNN, MSNBC have done well turning TV into online media.

However. His theory is that online hype is inversely proportional to "near-term revenue" from Internet sources. He points out that the Internet operations aren't listed separately on the income statement at most of the companies he follows. At News Corp, he says, "the Internet was a rounding error" with $1 billion of the $18.5 billion in revenue and a $68 million loss on operating income of $2.85 billion.

His point: a lot more money is made (and spent) offline than online. A LOT more money. And that's certainly worth evaluating when we look at the amounts currently being invested in online media.

Traditional media companies: more internet hype, less internet cash originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 26 Jun 2006 15:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.