Mattel’s Stock Should Be In The Pink As Barbie Becomes Barbillion

Box office record breaker Barbie passed the $1 billion ticket revenues mark Sunday as director Greta Gerwig broke an earnings record for female directors previously held by Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins.

Warner Bros Pictures confirmed that the movie took in $459 million from North American theaters and another $572.1 million overseas over the weekend, for a total of $1.0315 billion.

Its success seems genuinely to have taken both the move makers and Barbie owner Mattel by surprise.

“As distribution chiefs, we’re not often rendered speechless by a film’s performance, but Barbillion has blown even our most optimistic predictions out of the water,” said Jeff Goldstein and Andrew Cripps, who oversee domestic and international distribution for the studio, in a joint statement.

Away from the undoubted success of the movie, the question now is whether Barbie maker Mattel
MAT
can reap the full rewards of the corporately brave decision to allow Hollywood to send a new version of the quintessential doll for the ages out into the ether?

As a result, if ever there was a set of earnings that spoke of the past while all eyes are on the future, then Mattel’s Q2 earnings report was surely it.

On the face of it, the results showed a company feeling the squeeze as earnings reported late last month showed that, for the second quarter, net sales were down 12%, or 13% in constant currency, compared with the prior year’s second quarter.

And operating income took a hit at $63 million, a decrease of $62 million, while adjusted operating income was $75 million, a decrease of $47 million against the same period last year.

For the first six months of the year, net sales were 16% down year-on-year for an operating loss of $52 million, a decline of $257 million, and an adjusted operating loss of $12 million, a decrease of $224 million.

Mattel Looks Beyond Barbie

Of course, Mattel is about a lot more than a girl who loves pink, and loyal second fiddle Ken.

Action figures, building sets, games, and infant, toddler, and preschool (including Fisher-Price), plus Hot Wheels and dolls are all part of the mix, as is American Girl, where sales decreased 16%.

But that was then, this is now. A now that includes a billion-dollar-and-rising film hit.

So far, the market has remained remarkably unremarkable, with Mattel’s stock price floating a little over 14% up on the year to date and a little below 10% off its share price this time last year.

The Barbie effect, for now at least, has not seen a stock spike since a pre-launch leap.

While investors may remain cautious, fashion mainstay Gap
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is clearly impressed and has tapped Richard Dickson, the Mattel executive behind Barbie’s resurgence, to turn around the ailing apparel retailer as its new CEO.

Dickson currently serves as President and Chief Operating Officer of Mattel, with his appointment as Gap CEO effective August 22. In his role at Mattel, Dickson has been instrumental in reinvigorating not just Barbie but also Hot Wheels and the Fisher-Price brands.

Mattel Backs Barbie Merchandise

Meantime, Mattel has, understandably, positioned itself to paint the town pink on all things Barbie this year.

The toymaker has licensed the Barbie name to merchandise that began appearing everywhere ahead of the movie’s release, not least a Barbie apparel deal with Gap that hit stores on May 23, with – as we now know – Dickson to follow three months later.

Fast Fashion retailer Forever 21 also released Barbie ranges, as have Zara, Primark, Aldo, Sweaty Betty, Fossil and others, while more and more major brands are likely to jump in the Barbie convertible on the road to Profitsville.

The retro trade is also in the pink.

At eBay
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, the number of collectible Barbie Signature dolls sold globally was up over 900% between 2021 and 2022 amid “increasing buzz” for the movie’s release, according to Gene Cook, vice president of global collectibles at eBay.

The success of Barbie points to a new future for Mattel of content based on its popular toy franchises beyond Barbie.

The soar away popularity of Barbie’s big screen debut could help ease the path the for an estimated 14 other content projects currently in development for Mattel, including a Skydance-backed movie based on toy car brand Matchbox.

Given the scale of the success of Barbie, right now could well be the best day ever and Mattel execs will hope that so is every day from now until forever.