What happened
Shares of Funko (FNKO 1.15%) -- what else? -- popped 13.4% on Friday morning by 11:15 a.m. ET, after the maker of games and toys reported blowout sales and earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter of 2021.
Analysts had forecast that Funko would earn just $0.24 per share on a non-GAAP (adjusted) basis, on sales of $272.5 million for the quarter. Instead, the maker of Pop! vinyl figure collectibles said it earned $0.38 per share on sales of $336.3 million.
A Funkoverse advertising poster. Image source: Author photo.
So what
Sales grew 48% year over year, setting a new record for quarterly revenue. Granted, sales for the full year did even better at 58% growth and more than $1 billion in total sales, so the fourth quarter was a bit of a slowdown relative to the full year. But even so, 48% sales growth is nothing to sneeze at.
Another caveat: Non-GAAP earnings were $0.38 per share, but when calculated according to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), earnings for the quarter were only $0.28 per share, and $1.08 for the year.
Now what
Caveats notwithstanding, CEO Andrew Perlmutter pronounced himself thrilled with the company's performance, noting that it has finally reached its milestone of more than $1 billion in annual sales.
Looking ahead to 2022, the company now wants to build on that new base, and is predicting that sales will grow another 20% to 25% this year (with a mid-40% increase in the first quarter in particular). Funko didn't give GAAP guidance, but said it expects adjusted earnings to range from $1.75 to $1.91 per share for the year.
That's well ahead of Wall Street's prediction of $1.43 per share, and is strong evidence that after beating earnings with a stick in 2021, Funko plans to do it again in 2022.
