Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAT) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Anthony DiSilvestro: Yes. So let me try to unpack the top line guidance a bit for 2024. As we said, comparable in constant currency. And from a category perspective, Vehicles is up, Infant, Toddler, Preschool and Challenger categories flat and Dolls down. The other way to look at it is in the context here, as Ynon said, we do expect the industry to decline but not to the extent it did in 2023. Against that backdrop, we expect RP to be flat, which implies significant and continuing share gains. And then there’s a plus and a minus, right? The plus is, we’re going to wrap the inventory reduction in 2023. That’s the tailwind to 2024. And that’s being offset by the wrap related to the benefits associated with the Barbie movie. So, there’s several pluses and minuses in there. And hopefully, that helps Megan.

Megan Alexander: Okay. I guess just anything on the timing. We know that $125 million was more so the third quarter. I guess, just your sales were down significantly in the first half of last year. So, is it – but you said more normal. So is it flat over the year, I guess, like is it – can you help us a little bit on timing?

Anthony DiSilvestro: Yes, sure. I think in the context of our $5 billion of sales. As I said earlier, we do expect kind of a return to historical patterns in terms of shipments. So we don’t really see any material change in the cadence between 2023 and 2024.

Megan Alexander: Okay. And then I think just on the cost savings. I think you said 70% kind of in cost of goods. Can you help us unpack maybe how much of that just this year is related to the closing of the China manufacturing plan? And then maybe can you just spend some time expanding on the other things you’re doing that’s driving the $200 million of savings. I guess you’ve taken out a lot of costs over the last couple of years. So I’m just trying to understand maybe how much is pure cost takeout versus maybe more productivity-type efficiencies.

Anthony DiSilvestro: Yes. Sure. As you suggested, look, we have a strong track record of identifying and executing against our cost savings commitments. And as we announced today, we’re launching this Optimizing for Profitable Growth Program. It’s a combination of looking for and achieving efficiencies, which really leverage our global scale, as well as cost-saving opportunities within our supply chain, including our manufacturing footprint. So we did talk about taking out one of our China plants. That’s not going to impact 2024, that’s more later given the time horizon. But we have a number of productivity initiatives planned for our supply chain as well as optimizing our geographic sourcing on product, which is going to help in 2024. So we expect about $60 million total from the program in 2024. Again, a combination of cost of goods sold and SG&A and very confident in our ability to achieve that.

Megan Alexander: Okay. Thank you very much.

Operator: We will take our final question from Drew Crum with Stifel. Your line is open

Drew Crum: Thanks for sneaking me in. A couple of years ago, you suggested the Dolls would be the fastest or one of the fastest growing segments of the toy industry on a global basis. As you enter a new year, what is your updated view on the category and Mattel’s positioning? Any catalysts on the horizon we can look forward to as it relates to your business? And then I have a follow-up.

Ynon Kreiz: Thanks, Drew. Yes, we couldn’t be happier with our performance in the Dolls category. And we’re going to have a lot more to share with you at our Investor Day. There’s a pretty deep analysis, a lot of exciting innovation and we’ll break it down by each of our key brands. We do expect – just to give you a bit of a preview, we do expect the category to be down in 2024. But over time, it’s a healthy category. It’s competitive. It’s driven by innovation. And within that, we expect to continue to gain share with a very strong portfolio of some of the strongest brands in the industry that we are managing with – as part of our portfolio strategy with each of our key brands having its own lane, with its own clear purpose and methodology. And Lisa McKnight, our Chief Brand Officer, will talk about that in more detail at our presentation in March.

Drew Crum: Okay. Perfect. And then maybe for Anthony, can you remind us what percentage of manufacturing is sourced from China, I guess, before and after the closure of the plant. Thanks.

Anthony DiSilvestro: I’m sorry, Drew. I’m going to answer that one again in case we were on mute. So the question was, what’s the percent of product out of China? We’re at about 50% plus or minus. We have a very diversified manufacturing footprint, both on our own facilities as well as third-party. And once we closed that plant in China, that will come down a bit from there going forward.

Drew Crum: Okay. All right. Great. Thanks, guys.

Operator: And ladies and gentlemen, that is all the time we have for questions today. I will now turn the call back to Chairman and CEO, Mr. Ynon Kreiz for closing remarks.

Ynon Kreiz: Thank you, operator, and thank you, everyone, for your questions today. In conclusion, this was a very strong fourth quarter for the company, double-digit growth, both at the top-line and bottom-line and continued margin expansion. We ended the year with the strongest balance sheet we’ve had in years, putting us in an excellent position to continue to execute our strategy. As we look to 2024, we believe we are very well-positioned competitively and will continue to outpace the industry and gain market share. And we talked today about two important programs that we put in place for the – one is for the $1 billion of share repurchase and the other one is the Optimizing for Profitable Growth Program of $200 million savings over the next three years.

So we look forward to discussing more about our strategy and our road map for the year and beyond at our investor presentation in March. So please look out for more details about that. We’ll have a lot more to share with you then. And now I’ll turn the call back over to Dave.

David Zbojniewicz: Thank you, Ynon, and thank you, everyone, for joining the call today. The replay of this call will be available via webcast beginning at about 8:30 P.M. Eastern Time today. The webcast link can be found in the Events and Presentations section of our Investors section of our corporate website, corporate.mattel.com. Thank you for participating on today’s call.

Operator: And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today’s conference call. We thank you for your participation.

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