Melia Robinson/Business Insider
Mattel stock is getting crushed today down more than 12% following a major earnings miss.
Mattel posted a loss of 32 cents a share almost double the 17 cents estimated by Wall Street analysts. Sales fell by 15.4 percent in the quarter ended March 31, to $ 735.6 million, missing estimates of $ 801.4 million according to Reuters.
Despite all that bad news, UBS reiterated its conviction in a “Buy” rating on Mattel.
Although sales of Mattel’s most well-known brands, Barbie and Fisher-Price fell 13% and 9% during the quarter, UBS expects these brands to give Mattel a bump in the second quarter. UBS says that points of sale for Barbie are up high single digits, Hot Wheels up around high single digits and Fisher-Price up mid-single digits. Lead analyst Arpine Kocharyan explains:
These are surprisingly strong numbers, in our view – hard to reconcile with overall industry trends at retail, and with double-digit decline in shipment, potentially setting up for nice ship-in bump in Q2 under core brands, outside of entertainment slate-tied segments.
UBS notes the importance of Hot Wheels as one of Mattel’s only bright spots, growing at 4.5%.
Some investors have been worried about a dividend cut coming for Mattel shareholders, UBS does not think a cut is likely.
For a real-time Mattel chart, click here.
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