MAT - Mattel, Inc.
| Previous Close | 11.93 |
| Open | 12.00 |
| Bid | 11.81 x 800 |
| Ask | 11.99 x 3000 |
| Day's Range | 11.95 - 12.25 |
| 52 Week Range | 9.09 - 17.27 |
| Volume | 3,432,662 |
| Avg. Volume | 8,141,414 |
| Market Cap | 4.142B |
| Beta (3Y Monthly) | 2.04 |
| PE Ratio (TTM) | N/A |
| EPS (TTM) | -1.17 |
| Earnings Date | Jul 25, 2019 |
| Forward Dividend & Yield | N/A (N/A) |
| Ex-Dividend Date | 2017-08-21 |
| 1y Target Est | 13.96 |
- American City Business Journals•12 hours ago
Mattel execs continue to assert confidence in Fisher-Price despite difficult year
As the Rock 'N' Play costs Mattel millions, the corporation continues to invest in Fisher-Price's East Aurora campus.
- Market Realist•17 hours ago
Toys “R” Us Gets a Second Life amid Tough Retail Environment
Toys “R” Us is getting back into business again. The company plans to open two new stores this holiday season.
- Zacks•2 days ago
Mattel (MAT) May Report Negative Earnings: Know the Trend Ahead of Next Week's Release
Mattel (MAT) doesn't possess the right combination of the two key ingredients for a likely earnings beat in its upcoming report. Get prepared with the key expectations.
- GuruFocus.com•3 days ago
John Rogers' Ariel Fund 2nd Quarter Commentary
Discussion of markets and holdings Continue reading...
- American City Business Journals•4 days ago
Greta Gerwig to co-write Mattel's live-action Barbie film
Greta Gerwig will co-write the upcoming live-action Barbie movie with partner Noah Baumbach and also may direct the film, per Variety. Margot Robbie is set to play Barbie in the upcoming Warner Bros. and Mattel movie and will co-produce through her company LuckyChap Entertainment. The adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s book starring Emma Watson, Saoirse Ronan and Meryl Streep and is set for a Christmas 2019 release.
- Benzinga•5 days ago
Analyst Previews Funko, Hasbro And Mattel Earnings: Will We See A Pop?
Pop! figure makers Funko Inc (NASDAQ: FNKO) shares were popping on Monday, and Stifel predicts the Buy-rated stock was the best of the toymakers in the second quarter. Stifel’s Drew Crum reiterated a Buy rating on Funko and raised the target price from $27 to $28.
- Zacks•5 days ago
Solid Demand for Educational Toys to Drive Toys & Games Industry
Solid Demand for Educational Toys to Drive Toys & Games Industry
- GuruFocus.com•10 days ago
John Rogers Curbs Century Casinos Bet
Guru remains one of company’s top shareholders
- Zacks•10 days ago
Mattel Declines 3% in 6 Months: Will Product Innovation Aid?
Mattel's (MAT) efforts to improve point of sale while managing costs help it combat the Toys "R" Us liquidation effects.
- Markit•11 days ago
See what the IHS Markit Score report has to say about Mattel Inc.
Mattel Inc NASDAQ/NGS:MATView full report here! Summary * Perception of the company's creditworthiness is positive and improving * ETFs holding this stock have seen outflows over the last one-month * Bearish sentiment is high * Economic output for the sector is expanding but at a slower rate Bearish sentimentShort interest | NegativeShort interest is extremely high for MAT with more than 20% of shares on loan. This means that investors who seek to profit from falling equity prices are currently targeting MAT. Money flowETF/Index ownership | NegativeETF activity is negative. Over the last one-month, outflows of investor capital in ETFs holding MAT totaled $62.32 billion. Additionally, the rate of outflows appears to be accelerating. Economic sentimentPMI by IHS Markit | NegativeAccording to the latest IHS Markit Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) data, output in the Consumer Goods sector is rising. The rate of growth is weak relative to the trend shown over the past year, however, and is easing. Credit worthinessCredit default swap | PositiveThe current level displays a positive indicator with a strengthening bias over the past 1-month. MAT credit default swap spreads are decreasing and near the lowest level of the last one year, which indicates improvement in the market's perception of the company's credit worthiness.Please send all inquiries related to the report to score@ihsmarkit.com.Charts and report PDFs will only be available for 30 days after publishing.This document has been produced for information purposes only and is not to be relied upon or as construed as investment advice. To the fullest extent permitted by law, IHS Markit disclaims any responsibility or liability, whether in contract, tort (including, without limitation, negligence), equity or otherwise, for any loss or damage arising from any reliance on or the use of this material in any way. Please view the full legal disclaimer and methodology information on pages 2-3 of the full report.
- Business Wire•18 days ago
Mattel Announces Second Quarter 2019 Financial Results Conference Call
Mattel, Inc. (MAT) today announced that it plans to release its second quarter 2019 financial results on Thursday, July 25, 2019, at approximately 4:05 p.m. Eastern time. Following this, Mattel will host a conference call and webcast at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time. The conference call will be webcast on Mattel's Investor Relations website, https://mattel.gcs-web.com/.
- InvestorPlace•19 days ago
Disney Stock Is Poised to Win the Next Decade Hands Down
When it comes to media giant Disney (NYSE:DIS), the 2010s can be split into three parts: the first half, the second half, and overtime. And it looks as if Disney stock has a really interesting overtime ahead.Source: Baron Valium via FlickrThe first half, which ran from early 2010 to early 2015, was defined by steady revenue growth, strong margin expansion, big profit growth, and huge share price gains. During that stretch, DIS stock went from $30 to $90.The second half, which ran from early 2015 to early 2019, was defined by steady revenue growth, margin pressures, sluggish profit growth, and a muted stock. During that stretch, DIS stock traded sideways around the $100 range.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips * The 7 Top Small-Cap Stocks Of 2019 Now, we are in the overtime phase, which began in early 2019 when Disney announced details surrounding its Disney+ streaming service. We aren't that far into this stretch, but the thesis is simple. Over the next several years, Disney's big streaming pivot will unlock tremendous value, and drive revenue and profits materially higher.As revenues and profits move materially higher, so will DIS stock. In anticipation of all this growth, Disney stock has risen nearly 30% year-to-date to all-time highs.In this article, we will take an in-depth look at why recent strength in Disney stock, will extend into the first half of the 2020s. Indeed, during the first half of the 2020s, the fundamentals here support Disney stock nearly doubling from current levels.Without further ado, let's breakdown the long term bull thesis on Disney stock segment by segment and take a look at why DIS stock is worth buying for a huge upside into 2025. Media Networks Business Declines Will ModerateOne of the more important components of the bull thesis is the idea that secular declines in the Media Networks business have already started moderating and will continue moderate for the foreseeable future. This moderation will continue to occur as higher advertising rates offset slight subscriber declines and as the cable world pivots into the over-the-top channel.We all know that cord cutting is the trend these days. Consumers are increasingly pivoting their consumption from linear to internet TV, and in the process, cutting the cord. Roughly 10% of Americans have already cut the cord. By 2022, that figure will stand close to 20%.Still, at 20%, that means four out every five Americans will still be paying for cable, more than a decade after Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) first launched into the streaming world. That's a pretty big portion. Why so big? Because consumers still love pay TV content. They love their local news channels, The Bachelor, re-runs of Law & Order, NBA and NFL games, so on and so forth.As such, because consumers still actually love pay TV content, the pay TV world isn't doomed for the apocalypse as many think. Instead, pay TV content packages will similarly pivot from linear to internet TV through things like YouTube TV, meaning that big cable companies like Disney will actually win back some of the cord cutters they've lost over the past several years.As this dynamic plays out, Disney's Media Networks business will start to stabilize. Margins will remain under pressure because margins in the over-the-top world are notoriously lower than margins in the pay TV world. But, revenue and subscriber stabilization will help offset that margin compression.Last year, the Media Networks business did about $24.5 billion in revenue on 27% operating margins. Last quarter, revenues in this segment rose 3%, while margins dropped. This dynamic will persist. This business projects as a ~3% revenue grower for the foreseeable future, with margins that could drop to 20% by 2025.Net-net, that puts revenues around $30 billion by 2025 and operating profits around $6 billion. The Parks Business Will Continue to Fire on All CylindersAnother important component of the long term bull thesis on DIS stock is that through all the cord-cutting background noise the company's Parks business has been firing on all cylinders. Theme parks will continue to fire on all cylinders for the foreseeable future given Disney's enormously strong global brand equity and a shift in the consumer economy towards spending more on experiences.Disney's Parks business has been a symbol of strong and steady growth for the past decade. Since 2010, cumulative Parks attendance has risen more than 30%, per capita spending has risen more than 40%, and total revenues have risen more than 80%. That broadly breaks down into mid-single digit attendance and per capita spend growth every year, and a compounded annual revenue growth rate in the high single-digit range.On top of all that, operating margins in the Parks business have expanded from 12% in 2010, to 22% in 2018, driven mostly by the higher per capita spend. High single-digit annualized revenue growth plus 10 points of cumulative margin expansion has driven mid-teens annualized operating profit growth since 2010.This healthy revenue growth on top of steady margin expansion dynamic will persist. Disney's global brand equity is second to none, and the parks business is simply a physical extension of the movie business. So long as the company keeps pumping out movies that everyone and their best friend around the world watches, their Parks will remain in high demand.Further assisting Parks demand, consumers are increasingly shifting towards spending more on experiences versus products, and Disney Parks certainly are experiences.All in all, then, Disney's Parks business projects to remain on fire for the foreseeable future. High single-digit revenue growth on top of steady margin expansion will remain the norm here. By 2025, I think this could be a $35 billion business with somewhere between 26% and 30% operating margins, implying roughly $10 billion in operating profits. The Studio Business Will Stay in Growth ModeOne could very reasonably argue that the core of Disney is the content. After all, without content, what is Disney? The theme parks would just be regular old theme parks. The toys would just be regular old toys. There wouldn't be a movie business, and the Media Networks business would be a shell of its current self.As such, it is reasonable to say that the core of Disney is its content.It is also reasonable to say that the core of Disney's content is its Studio business. When you think of Disney content, what comes to mind first? Star Wars. Marvel. Pixar. The classic Disney films. All the blockbuster movies that seemingly every year dominate the box office. Those movies, which together comprise Disney's Studio business, are the heart of Disney's content and overall business.Consequently, without strength from that Studio business, the rest of the bull thesis supporting Disney stock falls apart. Fortunately, that Studio business projects to stay in growth mode for the foreseeable future.Disney has just scratched the surface of the content potential in the Marvel universe, as that universe spans thousands of characters and hundreds of story-lines. The Star Wars universe is equally large and lends itself to just as many potential movies. Pixar is largely unrivaled in the animation world, and those movies have secular demand. The classic Disney content portfolio is huge and lends itself to a plethora of re-make opportunities.All in all, then, Disney's Studio business will continue to dominate the global box office for the foreseeable future. Over the past decade, that dominance has amounted to mid single-digit revenue growth on top of margin expansion. That growth profile will persist over the next several years, too. As such, by 2025, this could easily be a $14 billion business, with 35% operating margins and nearly $5 billion in operating profits. Consumer Products Will ReboundOne of the smaller businesses over at Disney that often hides in the shadow of the Parks, Studio, and Media businesses, is Disney's Consumer Products business.This business is a fairly straight forward one. Disney produces a bunch of movies. From all those movies, Disney makes and sells a ton of accompanying merchandise, like toys, video games, clothing, so on and so forth. The revenue generated from all that merchandise is tallied up and recorded under Disney's Consumer Products business.The Consumer Products business has struggled over the past several years. There has been a secular decline in toy demand as children have started playing on smart devices and tablets as opposed to playing with traditional toys. Just look at the stock of toy-maker Mattel (NASDAQ:MAT) over the past five years to see proof of this. As traditional toy demand has dropped, so have revenues and margins in Disney's Consumer Products business.But, this decline is a near-term phenomenon. Eventually, Disney will pivot its Consumer Products focus from traditional toys to interactive media, and growth will return to this segment when they do. After all, despite recent declines, the Consumer Products business has still grown revenues a 4% annualized pace since 2010.Going forward, this business should return to mild growth. Margins should improve, too, as the company pivots into higher-margin and higher-value interactive media products. Net-net, by 2025, I reasonably think the Consumer Products business will measure around $6 billion in revenues with 40% operating margins, implying operating profits of about $2.4 billion. Streaming Upside Potential Is HugeThe biggest component of the long term bull thesis on DIS stock is this company's huge pivot into the streaming market, as this pivot has the potential to unlock tremendous value for the company in the long run. At the core of this streaming pivot is Disney's very own Disney-branded streaming service, Disney+.As discussed earlier, consumers everywhere are rapidly shifting from linear TV content consumption to internet TV content consumption because the internet TV channel offers lower prices and higher convenience. This shift is still in its early stages, and over the next several years, will continue with great momentum. At scale, the opportunity in the internet TV market will be huge.Right now, there are about 68 million streaming households in the U.S, that equates to roughly 60% penetration among domestic internet households. Globally, there are roughly 300 million streaming households, which is roughly 25% of all internet households. Over time, domestic and global streaming penetration rates will rise, and the domestic and global streaming household markets will grow substantially.By 2025, the U.S. streaming household penetration rate could measure about 80%, which would equate to 100 million households. The global streaming household penetration rate could measure 35%, or about 600 million households (500 million households outside of the U.S.)That is 600 million households around the world which will be paying some amount per month for at least one streaming service. Let's say Disney signs up all 600 million of those households for Disney+. At a price point of $7 per month, that would add up to an annual revenue opportunity of over $50 billion. Disney+ Will Power Huge Streaming GrowthTo be sure, there is close to 0% chance that Disney signs up 600 million households for Disney+ by 2025. That's simply too much growth in not enough time. Netflix today only has about 150 million subs.But given that about 85% of all streaming households in the U.S. subscribe to Netflix, 35% of international streaming households subscribe to Netflix, and that Disney's content portfolio is on par with Netflix's content portfolio, it is fairly likely that by 2025, Disney+ does hit Netflix-like penetration rates and becomes fairly large.To be conservative, let's call it a 50% domestic penetration rate, and a 20% international penetration rate. That would sum up to roughly 50 million domestic subs, 100 million international subs, and 150 million total subs.At $7 per month, that translates into a $12.6 billion annual revenue opportunity for Disney+. Assuming the other streaming services like ESPN+ amount to a few billion dollars in revenue by then, Disney's streaming segment could easily measure around $15 billion in revenues by 2025.The streaming segment won't be terribly profitable by 2025. But, it could be as profitable as Netflix is today. Netflix runs at roughly 10% operating margins. Thus, Disney's streaming business could realistically measure $15 billion in revenues by 2025, with a 10% operating margin and $1.5 billion in operating profits. The Growth Trajectory Will Accelerate HigherIf we add up all the aforementioned projections for Disney's various businesses, it becomes very obvious that Disney's profit growth trajectory is set to accelerate higher over the next several years. This profit growth trajectory acceleration ultimately lays the groundwork for Disney stock to head higher in the long run.Since 2014, Disney's profit growth trajectory has fallen relatively flat. During that stretch, revenues have risen at a fairly healthy 5% compounded annual growth rate, relatively consistent with the 6% compounded annual revenue growth rate reported between 2010 and 2014.From 2014 to 2018, however, margins have been under tremendous pressure, and haven't made any upward progress. As such, 5% compounded annual revenue growth, has turned into 5% compounded annual operating profit growth. That compares unfavorably to 10%-plus compounded annual operating profit growth from 2010 to 2014.Of note, from 2010 to 2014 when profit growth was running at a 10%-plus pace, Disney stock tripled from $30 to $90. During the 2015 to 2018 era when profit growth fell into the ~5% range, the stock was largely stuck in neutral around $100.Fortunately, given the above projections, it appears that profit growth will once again re-accelerate higher. By 2025, Disney will likely be a $100 billion revenue company with $25 billion in operating profits (simply add up all the projections from above). In 2018, revenues stood at $59.4 billion, while operating profits came in at $15.7 billion. Thus, over the next seven years, Disney projects as an 8% revenue grower and 7% operating profit grower.That compares favorably to and represents acceleration from the 5% revenue and profit growth trajectory the company has been on since 2014. Broadly, that means that growth at Disney will pick up momentum over the next several years, and as it does, Disney stock should respond favorably. Investors Will Take a More Favorable View on Disney StockTo be sure, while 7% operating profit growth from 2018 to 2025 is better than 5% operating profit growth from 2010 to 2014, it is still substantially worse than the 10%-plus operating profit growth that was reported between 2010 and 2014. But, 7% operating profit growth over the next several years should be enough for investors to take a more favorable view on DIS stock, and push this stock higher.From 2010 to 2014, DIS stock's trailing price-to-earnings multiple hovered between 16 and 20, so roughly 18 at the midpoint. That 18-times trailing multiple on top of 10%-plus operating profit growth drove DIS stock to triple in nearly four years. That's a huge gain.Now, Disney's go-forward growth trajectory is slower (7% operating profit growth). But, the valuation is also lower (15-times trailing earnings), meaning that as profit growth re-accelerates higher over the next several years, there is room for multiple expansion here.Indeed, that is exactly what will happen. Over the next several years, as streaming service expansion pushes Disney's profit growth rates higher, investors will increasingly see Disney as an innovative streaming company, not an antiquated media company. This optics shift will boost investor sentiment and essentially cause a re-rating in the stock back to growth territory.Growth stocks normally trade around 20-times forward earnings. Thus, at 15-times forward earnings today, DIS stock has a lot of room for potential multiple expansion over the next several years. That multiple expansion on top of mid to high single profit growth should drive healthy gains in Disney stock. Disney Stock Could Rally to $260 in the Long RunAs mentioned earlier, Disney's operating profits could stand around $25 billion by 2025, and that volume of operating profit easily warrants a $260 price target for DIS stock by 2024.The math here is pretty easy to follow. Take that $25 billion in operating profits, and subtract out around $600 million for interest expense and other non-operating expenses. That leaves around $24.4 billion in pre-tax profits.Take out another 20% for taxes. That leaves about $19.5 billion in net profits. Assuming the diluted share count stays around 1.5 billion, that equates to a potential 2025 earnings-per-share target of $13.As mentioned earlier, growth stocks normally trade at 20-times forward earnings. A 20-times forward multiple on 2025 earnings-per-share of $13 implies a 2024 price target for DIS stock of $260. Thus, in the long run, Disney stock is on a winning trajectory towards a $260 price tag.Such a big long term price target implies that there is further upside left in the near term, too. Discounted back by 10% per year (the average return for stocks per year, including dividends), that equates to a 2019 price target for Disney stock of about $160. As of this writing, the stock trades hands around $140, meaning that the long term growth fundamentals support another 15% upside over the next several months. Bottom Line on Disney StockDisney stock hasn't been the best stock to own for the past four years. But, things are changing at Disney, and after Disney+ launches in the back half of 2019, this change will start to unfold rapidly. As it does, the entire growth narrative at Disney will improve, the company's profit growth trajectory will accelerate higher, and DIS stock will rally.As such, while Disney stock is up big year-to-date, there's still a lot more room for this stock to run higher over the next several months and years.As of this writing, Luke Lango was long DIS. More From InvestorPlace * 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid * The 7 Top Small-Cap Stocks Of 2019 * Critical Levels to Watch in 7 Marijuana Stocks * 5 Smaller Cloud Stocks That Have Plenty of Potential Compare Brokers The post Disney Stock Is Poised to Win the Next Decade Hands Down appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- Morningstar•19 days ago
Consumer Cyclical: Tariff Uncertainty Leads to Attractive Valuations
The Morningstar U.S. Consumer Cyclical Index is up 20% year to date through June 21, roughly in line with the broader U.S. equity market (Exhibit 1). But the sector has faced some volatility since the late April peak due to intensifying concerns about global tariffs along with continued worries of a cyclical slowdown in China and Brexit uncertainty in the United Kingdom.
- Yahoo Finance•22 days ago
Companies to Watch: Goldman slashes rate, hacker warning from Medtronic, Mattel issues recall
Goldman Sachs, Medtronic, Mattel, Facebook, Google and SpaceX are the companies to watch.
- MarketWatch•23 days ago
Fisher-Price issues recall after infant fatalities tied to inclined sleepers
Fisher-Price has issued a recall for the inclined sleeper accessory that's included in certain models of the Ultra-Lite Day & Nite Play Yards after reports of infant deaths tied to other inclined sleep products. Babies have rolled from their backs onto their sides or stomachs while unrestrained or in other circumstances when using inclined sleepers, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission announcement. No deaths, injuries, or incidents are associated with the Fisher-Price product. Consumers are advised to immediately stop using using the sleeper accessory and contact Fisher-Price for a refund or voucher. However, they can continue to use the "play yard," changing station accessory and carry bag. The inclined sleeper was available from October 2014 to June 2019, priced at $90 to $110. In April, Fisher-Price issued a recall for the Rock 'n Play Sleeper because it was tied to infant deaths. Fisher-Price is part of the Mattel Inc. portfolio of brands. Mattel stock is up 1.2% in Thursday trading, and up 7.5% for the year to date. The S&P 500 index is up 16.7% for 2019 so far.
- Motley Fool•23 days ago
Why Mattel's Failed Merger Talks Could Be a Good Thing
Don't believe the toymaker's spurned suitor -- it knows what it's missing.
- Motley Fool•24 days ago
MGA Entertainment Says It's Done Pursuing Mattel
Inside this L.O.L. Surprise, you’ll apparently find sour grapes.
- Bloomberg•25 days ago
These Jobs Are, Like, So L.A.
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- What do people do for a living in the New York-Newark-Jersey City metropolitan area? If you rank the sectors with the most jobs, it’s health care, retail, leisure and hospitality — which rank near the top almost everywhere. A more revealing way to sort things is by employment location quotient, which is provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as part of its Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages data and measures how much more prevalent an industry is in one area than in the nation as a whole. These are, in effect, the New Yorkiest industries:The list goes to 19 because when it went to 20 I got warning messages from Bloomberg’s in-house charting app that the graphic was too big. Which made me sad, because the next two “industries” in the ranking were the oh-so-New Yorky theater companies and art dealers. These are all what are known as four-, five- and six-digit industries under the North American Industry Classification System, meaning not broad sectors but narrow and sometimes very narrow ones. I weeded out overlap, so there should be no double-counting of jobs in the above numbers. Someone who really cared about about design and readability wouldn’t try to squeeze so much into one table, I know, but I was more interested in the gloriously true-to-cliché but also quite informative picture of the New York-area economy that such a long list provides.Related: Where Microbrewery Jobs Are OverflowingFinancial Jobs Aren’t Just in New YorkA Booming Local Health-Care Industry Isn’t Always a Good Thing The Internet Is Everywhere, But Internet Jobs Aren’tThere’s journalism, represented by the two parts that I’ve been working in since coming to New York in 1996 (news syndicates and periodical publishers), and its relatives in advertising and public relations. There’s high finance. There’s fashion. There’s books. There’s music (that’s the kind of record production they’re talking about). There’s performing arts. There’s fashion. There’s the diamond guys. There’s the newsstands. There’s the photo-equipment stores, or at least the photo-equipment wholesalers. And there’s … libraries and archives, for which the best explanation seems to be that the New York Public Library is a private nonprofit that gets funding from the city, meaning that its employees are almost certainly included in the by-industry data (which excludes government workers) while public library workers in most cities are not.Here’s the same exercise for the nation’s second-largest metropolitan area, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim. It delivers on the clichés as well, with agents — of course! — coming in first place.Just missing the cut here was “other aircraft parts and equipment,” a remnant of an industry that used to be a very big deal in the Los Angeles area but has been decimated since the early 1990s.(2) Overall the list is a mix of well-paid entertainment industry work and grittier, less-well-remunerated manufacturing and wholesaling jobs (although pay is pretty good in doll, toy and game manufacturing, thanks to the presence of industry leader Mattel Inc.’s headquarters in El Segundo). This preponderance of blue-collar industries won’t come as a surprise to people in the Los Angeles area — which is also home to the country’s two busiest ports, among other things — but it doesn’t exactly accord with the area’s global image. Oh, and the high location quotient for HMO (short for health management organization) medical centers is a California-wide thing: Kaiser Permanente, an Oakland-based nonprofit HMO(3) that runs its own network of hospitals, has a 50% share of the state’s health insurance market. Here are the top-location-quotient industries in the nation’s third-largest metropolitan area, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin:They still make a lot of stuff in and around Chicago! Manufacturing employment in the area is not what it used to be, with a 39% decline since 1990 compared with 27% nationwide, but it’s been mostly rising since 2010. There are also signs here of Chicago’s role as a mid-American economic hub: the commodities markets, the professional organizations, the credit bureaus. There’s not much sign of likely growth industries of the future, though — and to some extent, that’s true of all three of the biggest metro areas.One can make these lists for every U.S. metropolitan area, and even every county, using the BLS’s QCEW data viewer. The agency suppresses local industry data when it might reveal details about individual employers, so smaller areas will often deliver less accurate rankings. Still, it’s a wonderful way to explore the nation’s far-from-uniform economic geography, as I’ve been doing in my columns for the past few days. And I really should stop there, but as I was looking through a few other metro areas’ most distinctive industries, I came across this great top 10 for Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue: One can find all the Seattle area’s iconic modern corporations reflected here: aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co. (which moved its corporate headquarters but not much else to Chicago in 2001), software giant Microsoft Corp., “electronic shopping and mail-order house” Amazon.com Inc., coffee juggernaut Starbucks Corp.(4) But signs of the area’s past are apparent, too, in the form of fishing, seafood packaging, the port — and the by-now-totally-retro monorail. Local economic data can tell some very interesting stories.(1) Worse than decimated, actually. Employment in transportation equipment manufacturing in the Los Angeles area is down 65% since 1990.(2) The preferred term for what Kaiser does now seems to be integrated managed care consortium, but the acronym IMCC hasn't really caught on.(3) Starbucks headquarters employees do not appear to be included in the tally for coffee and tea manufacturing, but workers at its "flexible roasting plant" in the Seattle suburb of Kent probably are.To contact the author of this story: Justin Fox at justinfox@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Brooke Sample at bsample1@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Justin Fox is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering business. He was the editorial director of Harvard Business Review and wrote for Time, Fortune and American Banker. He is the author of “The Myth of the Rational Market.”For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Zacks•25 days ago
Here's Why Investors Should Steer Clear of JAKKS Pacific
JAKKS Pacific (JAKK) is grappling with declining demand and sales. A challenging retail environment for toys, cost issues and increasing competition remain potential headwinds.
- Bloomberg•25 days ago
BTS Made an App That Lets You Chat With Its Members (Sort Of)
(Bloomberg) -- K-pop sensation BTS has racked up a string of firsts over an astonishing six-year run. Now the seven-member group star in their very own smartphone game, marrying two of South Korea’s hottest exports.Netmarble Corp., the country’s biggest mobile-app publisher, has unveiled a game featuring global K-Pop phenom BTS, the latest attempt to wed the country’s tech and entertainment industries to drive economic growth.“BTS World” contains previously undisclosed videos and photos of the boy band. The game takes players to their pre-debut days to recruit and train the singers. Users can pay to quicken the process of guiding the seven young men to stardom. Created by local developer Takeone Company Corp. and published by Netmarble, the game also features video and text chats with BTS members based on pre-written scripts.It’s the first major mobile title to focus exclusively on a K-Pop group, a testament to the rapidly growing clout of two of Korea’s most promising exports -- games and K-Pop -- as Hyundai cars struggle to regain momentum and Samsung semiconductors undergo an industry downturn.BTS or Bangtan Sonyeondan, which translates as Bulletproof Boy Scouts, has amassed millions of fans around the world thanks in large part to social media. The band’s Love Yourself campaign, which calls on people to take better care of themselves and encourages them to speak out on social issues, has resonated in particular with young fans.“Managing BTS myself would make me feel closer to the members,” said Paik Ji-min, a 29-year-old South Korean fan who flew to London to attend a BTS concert and said she would be willing to spend about 50,000 won (around $43) playing the game. “Just the thought of it makes me smile ear to ear.”Netmarble already plans a sequel to BTS World, seeking to maximize profit from what has arguably become the biggest K-Pop success after singer Psy. BTS has 20 million followers on Twitter and has made television appearances on Saturday Night Live and Ellen DeGeneres’s talk show. This year, the band sold out London’s 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium in just 90 minutes.The company’s founder, Bang Jun-hyuk, teamed up with relative Bang Si-hyuk of Big Hit Entertainment, the agency behind BTS, to develop the game. The entrepreneur is betting the recipe will re-energize growth at Netmarble, which trades about 20% lower than when it listed in 2017.“Even though it’s based on story-telling, as you progress you can discover a lot of missions and gaming elements,” Seungwon Lee, Netmarble’s chief global officer, told Bloomberg Television. “It’s sufficient incentive to keep motivating users to play.”BTS creator Bang Si-hyuk, who is also known as Hitman, told Bloomberg in 2017 that the company was diversifying into intellectual property-protected content that could possibly multiply its revenue. Big Hit is now worth an estimated $2 billion, according to the Hyundai Research Institute. The company is drawing on the popularity of the band to collaborate with Line Corp. for character merchandise and Mattel Inc. for dolls. The K-pop industry is worth about $5 billion, according to the government-affiliated Korea Creative Content Agency.Read More: High School Dropout Turns Billionaire on Games Firm IPONetmarble, whose titles include Lineage 2 Revolution and Marvel Future Fight, ranked 5th among publishers of Google Play and Apple iOS apps last year in terms of revenue, according to analytics firm App Annie. Founded in 2000, the Seoul-based company has drawn backing from Chinese giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. and South Korean conglomerate CJ Group.Vey-Sern Ling, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, said it may be relatively easy to generate money from players because they’re already fans who display a strong willingness to pay for BTS content. But the lifespan of the game could be limited. “Once the content is consumed there should be very little reason to play on, just like how you wouldn’t watch the same movie multiple times,” Ling said.Read More: ‘Hitman’ Worth $770 Million With K-Pop Craze Rocking the PlanetTo contact the reporters on this story: Sohee Kim in Seoul at skim847@bloomberg.net;Sam Kim in Seoul at skim609@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Edwin Chan at echan273@bloomberg.net, Colum MurphyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Zacks•26 days ago
Mattel Launches Hot Wheels Mario Kart Cars to Drive Sales (Revised)
Mattel's (MAT) aggressive efforts to improve its point of sale by product launch and various partnerships bode well.
- Yahoo Finance•26 days ago
Hasbro: Tariffs could not come at a worse time for toy industry
Toymakers warn tariffs will drive up the price of toys and potentially lead to safety risks.
