Mattel Shares Drop as DC Comics Signs Toy Deal With Spin Master

(Bloomberg) -- Mattel Inc. extended its longest streak of daily declines since 2015 after Goldman Sachs analysts cut estimates following the toymaker’s loss of licensing for certain DC Comics products, including boys’ action toys.

Spin Master Corp. will be the new licensee for DC in the boy’s action category, remote control and robotic vehicles, water toys and games and puzzles, displacing Mattel. The three-year global agreement with Warner Bros. begins in Spring of 2020. Mattel will be keeping some of its licensing rights, including for preschool and girls’ toys, Goldman analyst Michael Ng said in a note to clients.

Ng expects Mattel to “aggressively pursue” new licenses, noting that Hasbro Inc.’s licenses to Marvel and Star Wars toys expire in 2020.

In the meantime, investors may be watching the box office, where this weekend’s top performers included Warner Bros. “Aquaman,” based on the DC Comics character, and Hasbro’s new Transformer film, “Bumblebee.” The two movies helped propel the weekend receipts to the highest grossing level in a month. Aquaman was the top performer.

Mattel shares, which are already trading at an 18-year low, dropped another 4.5 percent on Monday in New York. The stock’s year-to-day loss currently stands at 40 percent versus the S&P 500 Index’s drop of 11 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Janet Freund in New York at jfreund11@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net, Brad Olesen

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