Why is Mattel stock sliding today?

Mattel stock slid 5.8% in pre-open trading to reach $14.11 after the toymaker delivered a mixed third-quarter earnings report on Thursday evening and, more damagingly, slashed its full-year 2026 financial outlook. Management cut its adjusted earnings-per-share guidance to a range of $1.05 to $1.20, down from the prior forecast of $1.27 to $1.39, and trimmed its net sales growth target to 1%–4% from the earlier 3%–6% range. The company attributed the revision to a deceleration in consumer demand that emerged toward the end of Q3 and carried into the fourth quarter across major global markets, compounded by rising raw material costs tied to the Iran conflict and elevated energy prices.

On the earnings scorecard itself, the picture was mixed: adjusted EPS of $1.30 cleared the analyst consensus of roughly $0.94–$0.96 by a wide margin, but net sales of $1.81 billion fell short of the approximately $1.84 billion estimate. Adjusted gross margin expanded significantly to 55%, though that improvement was substantially driven by $88 million in nonrecurring tariff refunds rather than underlying operational gains. Citi responded by maintaining its Neutral rating on the stock while cutting its price target to $15 from $17, reflecting reduced confidence in near-term earnings power. Adding to the uncertainty, the company simultaneously announced the departure of Roberto Stanichi, a 20-year Mattel veteran who served as President and Chief Marketing and Brand Officer, to be replaced by incoming COO Steve Totzke on November 11 — making the leadership transition a secondary but notable overhang.

On the broader market front, Friday’s pre-market session was attempting to stabilize after a historically severe Thursday sell-off in which the Nasdaq fell roughly 5.5% — its steepest single-day drop in 18 months — driven by midterm election results that stoked fears of tighter regulation on AI data center expansion. While the Nasdaq was recovering ground in pre-market, Mattel was unable to participate in that rebound given the weight of its own company-specific news.

The combination of a revenue miss, a double-digit percentage reduction in full-year profit guidance, a Citi price target cut, and a senior leadership departure proved too much for the stock to absorb, pushing shares toward their lowest levels in recent months and keeping them well below Citi’s revised $15 target even as the broader tape attempted to find its footing.