Last Updated on December 23, 2019 by Danielle
Mattel and Hasbro’s sales are expected to rise this holiday season.
Christmas may be about three months away and so many kids are already wondering what should make their holiday wishlists. We’ve put together our list of top toys for Christmas.
This may be good news for the two big toy manufacturers, Mattel and Hasbro. Both toy companies are doing well on Wall Street, with shares up 20% for each of the companies.
Mattel’s new CEO has a turnaround underway while Hasbro is relying heavily on its evergreen properties like Nerf, Transformers, Disney Princess and Frozen toy lines. They could see a bigger boost with new Star Wars themed toys – based on “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” – set to release.
Another “Force Friday” marketing blitz campaign is expected across toy companies to reveal all the latest Star Wars merchandise. It’s worth noting that the anticipation for “Rogue One” is not as high as it was for “The Force Awakens”; however, fans may still have strong demand for the new Star Wars toys.
In fact, Hasbro has the most to gain as it owns the majority of Star Wars licenses in addition to the Disney license. Mattel’s Hot Wheels line will feature a “Rogue One” movie license tie-in.
Analysts expect revenue to be down for the upcoming quarters, despite Mattel’s efforts to rev up sales growth. Hasbro now owns the majority stake of Disney licenses, which Mattel previously had for many years.
Earlier in the year there were even takeover rumors between Hasbro and Mattel, which eventually never panned out. Due to antitrust concerns, it may have been a challenge to get the merger past regulators.
The worst may be over for Mattel. In fact, the Barbie brand is making a comeback. The company is also excelling with its Thomas & Friends line. Mattel also won the rights to the Jurassic World toys earlier this year and a sequel is slated for theaters in June 2018.
According to analysts, Hasbro’s sales are expected to increase for this holiday season, while the opposite is expected for Mattel.
With current conditions, it appears Hasbro has the better stock when directly compared to Mattel.
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