More than just a weekend separates Friday's quarterly report from Mattel (NYSE: MAT) and Hasbro's (NYSE: HAS) numbers this morning.
Hasbro is thriving. Revenue would have climbed 7%, if not for the impact of the quarter's strengthening dollar. Net earnings clocked in at $0.26 a share, or $0.32 a share before accounting for dilution resulting from its deal with Discovery Communications (Nasdaq: DISCA) (Nasdaq: DISCB) (Nasdaq: DISCK) to launch a kid-centric cable television channel. No matter how you score the bottom line, it was better than both the $0.25 a share that Hasbro earned a year ago, and the $0.23 a share that Wall Street was expecting.
Now is just a great time to be Hasbro. Two of its toy lines -- Transformers and G.I. Joe -- are receiving serious multiplex attention this summer, while many of its signature board games are becoming recessionary favorites.
But over in the Mattel camp, this is certainly not the best of times. Investors may have applauded the company's bottom-line performance, with earnings doubling to $0.06 a share, but there's a serious popularity problem with Mattel's playthings.
Domestic revenue fell by 12%. International revenue plunged even more sharply, off 26% (or 16% if you back out the foreign exchange impact). All of Mattel's major toy categories suffered double-digit percentage declines, save for its American Girl dolls (where revenue clocked in flat). Clearly, the company behind Barbie, Hot Wheels, and Fisher-Price could use a makeover.
Hasbro has taken a page out of Marvel's (NYSE: MVL) playbook, cashing in on the theatrical monetization of its prized portfolio. Is this Mattel's way out? I doubt a Michael Bay-directed Polly Pocket or American Girls movie would pack theaters. But Matchbox, Power Wheels, Tyco R/C, and Hot Wheels could have some licensing horsepower behind them.
Mattel deserves credit for shaving away at its costs to deliver earnings growth despite its steep top-line plunge. However, it still has a long way to go to keep up with Hasbro.
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