That is certainly a good question, Robert. The toy business is,
in the main, notoriously volatile. After all, kids are decidedly
fickle. Playmates Toys has chosen to carve a niche for itself
in the most volatile arena of all, the promotional toy business.
A promotional toy, by definition, is one which is supported by
media- whether it be film, TV show, comic book, etc. It is a
highly profitable venue to be in for a toy company if it can
create a hot toy. But creating a hot toy is akin to a winning
commodities play. It can be done, but not that often in the
average. The key is to manage the risk, and Playmates
has been able to do that admirably with its other properties.
I am hardly a prophet, but I am looking for HK$4.00 for Playmates
Toys this year. It may exceed that expectation. Even at that price,
Playmates market cap would be a mere US$341 million compared
to a gigantic US$6 billion or so for Hasbro.
Whether Playmates Toys ever gets listed in North America, it is
consummation devoutly to be wished. I do not know, even though
there are rumors of same floating about. The WSJ column seemed
also to intimate this. Who can tell? |
