Market Insider

Mattel's stock swoons 17 percent after grim earnings, revenue letdown

A young girl plays with a Mattel Barbie doll in Tiskilwa, Ill.
Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The maker of Barbie dolls had a really bad day.

Shares of Mattel plunged 17 percent after the company reported quarterly earnings and revenue that fell short of analyst expectations, and as its CEO prepares to step aside.

The toymaker reported earnings per share of 52 cents, well short of the 71 cents expected by Thompson Reuters. Revenue for the quarter was $1.83 billion, tumbling 8 percent after losing the Disney Princess line to rival toymaker Hasbro last year.

Mattel CEO Christopher Sinclair said in the report that a difficult holiday season had affected toy sales from all manufacturers and that Mattel still has a positive outlook for 2017. Sinclair will vacate his role next month, and is set to be replaced by Margaret Georgiadis, a former Google executive.

"Even against this difficult backdrop, our core brands continued to show solid growth, and our performance in key emerging markets like China was equally strong. And, importantly, we offset a substantial revenue gap from the loss of the Disney Princess license.

Five-day performance of Mattel

As of Wednesday's close, Mattel shares were up 10.8 percent for the month of January.