BY ANN ZIMMERMAN, WSJ

Board games traditionally sell big during the holidays, but lately, Hasbro Inc., the largest seller of such games, can’t seem to pass Go.

The Pawtucket, R.I., manufacturer of such classics as Monopoly, Scrabble and Operation remains dogged by a disastrous Christmas last year, when sales fell and profits plunged by 15% for the quarter.

Since then, the company has failed to meet Wall Street’s earnings expectations, leaving shares in the world’s largest toy maker down 28% so far this year. And investors are betting that there are more perils ahead: the number of its shares sold in anticipation of further …