Mattel Inc (NASDAQ:MAT) stock is down 24.6% at $15.88 at last check, after the company announced lower-than-anticipated fourth-quarter earnings and revenue and a disappointing earnings forecast. Holiday sales faltered, with competition from Hasbro (HAS) contributing to the results.
In response, Citigroup downgraded the equity to "neutral," while J.P. Morgan Securities lowered its rating to "underweight." MAT also saw five price-target cuts. Analysts were already pessimistic toward the stock coming into today, with seven of the 13f firms in coverage calling it a "hold" or worse.'
Should these losses hold, it will be MAT's worst daily percentage drop since a 29.6% fall on Oct. 4, 1999. Now trading at its lowest level since April, the stock is down 28.2% year over year.
Mattel is a favorite in the options pits today. So far, the stock has seen 5,345 calls and 3,217 puts exchanged, which is 13 times the amount typically seen a this point. The February 16 call is the most active, with new positions being bought to open there.
Calls were already much more popular than usual in the past 10 weeks, though these investors probably feel disappointed today. Mattel stock's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 9.45 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) ranks higher than 98% of readings from the past 12 months.
