Mattel misses by $0.13, misses on revs
Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.07 per share, $0.13 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.20; revenues fell 6.3% year/year to $2.11 bln vs the $2.37 bln consensus.
Commentary: "Overall, the global toy industry held up pretty well, but we did not meet our growth expectations for the fourth quarter, or the full year, mainly driven by weakness in the U.S. market..."
Mattel Girls & Boys Brands
For the fourth quarter, worldwide gross sales for the Mattel Girls & Boys Brands business unit were $1.35 billion, down 4% versus a year ago. Worldwide gross sales for the Barbie brand were down 13% and worldwide gross sales for Other Girls Brands were up 12%, primarily driven by Disney Princess™. Worldwide gross sales for the Wheels business, which includes the Hot Wheels, Matchbox® and Tyco R/C® brands, were down 11% for the quarter.
Fisher-Price Brands
For the fourth quarter, worldwide gross sales for the Fisher-Price Brands business unit, which includes the Fisher-Price Core, Fisher-Price Friends, and Power Wheels brands, were $647.4 mln, down 13% versus the prior year.
American Girl Brands
For the fourth quarter, gross sales for the American Girl Brands business unit were $331.6 mln, up 3% versus the prior year, primarily driven by Saige, the 2013 Girl of the Year.
Capital Deployment
The Company announced that its Board of Directors declared a first quarter cash dividend of $0.38 per share on the Company's common stock, which represents an increase of 6% versus last year's dividend of $0.36 per share. The dividend will be payable on March 7, 2014 to stockholders of record on February 20, 2014.
For the fourth quarter 2013, the Company repurchased 2.0 mln shares of its common stock at a cost of ~$83 mln, and for the year, the Company repurchased 11.0 mln shares of its common stock at a cost of ~$469 mln.