NEW YORK — There is one trading card in a new "Enduring Freedom" series that stands out — Osama bin Laden — and the chief executive of Topps Co. encourages kids to do what they want with it.
"Stamp it out. Rip it apart," CEO Arthur Shorin said.
The card bearing the likeness of bin Laden, the Saudi-born militant the United States accuses of being the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 hijacked plane attacks, is one of 90 in a new series, "Enduring Freedom," that Topps, the maker of baseball cards and Bazooka gum, sent out en masse last week to Wal-Mart Stores.
The company has chronicled historical events with its trademark cards going back to the Korean conflict; the war in Afghanistan with the Taliban was an automatic addition, according to Shorin, who also is chairman and president of Topps Co. Inc.
Sales of the patriotic cards, which have already been on smaller retailers' shelves since mid-October and go for $1.99 a pack, are not expected to replace the fizzled-out Pokemon card craze, which largely accounted for a 72 percent drop in the New York-based company's second-quarter profits.
But that is fine with Shorin, who is donating a portion of the sales to the World Trade Center relief fund. He said he sees the cards as a chance to educate children about the events unfolding from the Sept. 11 attacks.
They are picking up bits and pieces of the events from television and newspapers, "but kids need to get information on their own terms," he said. "This is their medium."
Nearly half of the "Enduring Freedom" trading cards feature military hardware — F-16s, B-2 bomber and F-117 stealth fighters in action — and contain statistical data, which will give kids a sense of security and power, he added.
There are also Old Glory cards, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani cards, and cards featuring national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat giving blood for the victims of the attacks. Depictions of the attacks themselves and the rubble were left out, Shorin said.
Shorin declined to say how many cards the company expects to sell, nor did he comment on its outlook for the third quarter. He did hint, however, that the company would issue another batch of cards in the series he dubbed "Freedom's Force," involving high-tech special forces employed in combat, such as nighttime vision.
Analyst Robert Routh, who covers the company for Arnhold & S. Bleichroeder, said the launch of the series makes sense, but would not be enough to help Topps' revenues recover from last year's Pokemon-induced spike and lower sales for candy and collectible sports cards.
Routh said he expects Topps to earn 16 to 17 cents a share in the third quarter, down from 41 cents a share reported a year ago. He said he sees 71 cents a share for the full year, less than half the $1.91 a share reported a year earlier.
But Topps is still profitable, has no debt and has been aggressively buying back its shares, Routh said. It also recently authorized another 5-million-share buyback.
On Friday, the company's stock closed at $10.20, down 11 cents, in Nasdaq trade. The stock has fallen 9 percent since the Sept. 11 attacks, but is up 17 percent since the beginning of the year. Over the past 52 weeks, Topps shares have traded in a range from a low of $7.875 to a high of $12.30.