Via financialskeptic.blogspot.com/:
Mattel Inc (NYSE:MAT) served up some psuedo good results. EPS is up but the number was partially tricked by reducing total amount of shares outstanding. Income before taxes increased from $652 million to $683 million. The provision for taxes dropped dramatically from $235 million to $91 million. I almost never believe huge drops in income tax when they happen and fully expect some restatement in the future. This low level of taxation will probably not hold in future quarters. Management essentially makes no comment about it in the press release and probably does not want to talk about it.
While some good news was observed in sales and margins the SGA rose by 100 basis points as announced by the company. Never a good sign. Of particular note was the drop in advertising from 12.1% of revenues to 11.5%....
$26.56 (02/16/07)
