The owner of the Hello Kitty brand had its worst day on the stock market in 12 years

Shares of the Japanese company Sanrio, which owns Hello Kitty and other popular characters, fell 18% at the close of trading on August 12 in Tokyo; at one point, the decline reached 20%. This marks the sharpest decline since 2014, according to Bloomberg .

The company's operating profit rose 11.1% in the first quarter but fell short of market expectations: it came in at 22.4 billion Japanese yen ($141 million), compared with a consensus estimate of 23.4 billion Japanese yen. Revenue rose by nearly 21% to 52.04 billion Japanese yen ($326 million).

Sanrio’s stock has been rising at a fairly rapid pace recently: from the start of the year through Monday’s close, the stock surged by nearly 50%, significantly outperforming the Topix index. So investors likely decided that now is a good time to sell, commented Kazuhiro Sasaki, head of the research department at Phillip Securities.

"First-quarter results could trigger short-term profit-taking and a decline in share prices," but there is no cause for serious concern, as the business continues to grow steadily, according to Morgan Stanley analysts.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor