Deborah Mary Sophia and Uday Sampath Kumar

(Reuters) – Mattel Inc Wall Street’s estimates of quarterly sales beat on Wednesday by NASDAQ:. This was a continuation of a strong run after the pandemic. Retailers restocked Barbie and Hot Wheels brand Barbies following stock shortages during the holidays.

Delays in shipping, shutdowns of factories and other supply chain issues caused delays to many items arriving during the crucial holiday season. Despite companies trying to move forward deliveries, they were not able to redirect goods.

“Retailers were short of stock after such a strong holiday season, so they restocked more in the first quarter and expect to grow again in the second quarter,” Chief Executive Ynon Kreiz stated to Reuters.

Following reports that Apollo Global Management (NYSE 🙂 Inc. and L Catterton had expressed an interest in buying the company, shares of California’s toymaker increased by 13.4%.

Kreiz said that the second quarter started strongly, with strong demand for action figures and games inspired by major movies like “Jurassic World: Dominion”, Lightyear, and “Minions: The Rise of Gru”.

The company’s gross margin fell 70 basis points compared to a year ago, due to price increases that failed in the face of soaring input and transport costs.

The Uno Cards maker posted a net profit of $21.5million or 6c per share. This compares to the net loss of $112.4million or 32c per share a year ago.

Gross billings overall for Barbie (Mattel’s most popular brand) rose 8%, while Hot Wheels saw a 31% increase.

Even though the first quarter was slow, net sales rose 19% to $1.04 Billion, surpassing analysts’ estimate of $918 Million, Refinitiv IIBES.