NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Mattel (MAT) - Get Report stock is soaring by 4.84% to $24.93 on heavy trading volume on Tuesday afternoon, after Jana Partners disclosed a new stake in the company.

Hedge fund Jana, which is known for its activist investor campaigns, added a new stake in Mattel, a designer and manufacturer of toy products. 

Jana holds 9,311,139 shares of Mattel as of September 30, according to NASDAQ.com.

The firm also reported investments in Aramark (ARMK) and Microsoft (MSFT).

So far today, 13.84 million shares of Mattel have traded, versus its 30-day average of 5.37 million shares.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates MATTEL INC as a Hold with a ratings score of C. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

We rate MATTEL INC (MAT) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed - some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its good cash flow from operations, expanding profit margins and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself, feeble growth in the company's earnings per share and deteriorating net income.

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

  • Net operating cash flow has significantly increased by 128.29% to $18.44 million when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, MATTEL INC has also vastly surpassed the industry average cash flow growth rate of 10.53%.
  • The gross profit margin for MATTEL INC is rather high; currently it is at 52.34%. Regardless of MAT's high profit margin, it has managed to decrease from the same period last year. Despite the mixed results of the gross profit margin, MAT's net profit margin of 12.48% compares favorably to the industry average.
  • MAT, with its decline in revenue, underperformed when compared the industry average of 1.2%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues fell by 11.4%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.
  • MATTEL INC's earnings per share declined by 31.9% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. Earnings per share have declined over the last two years. We anticipate that this should continue in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, MATTEL INC reported lower earnings of $1.46 versus $2.60 in the prior year. For the next year, the market is expecting a contraction of 13.7% in earnings ($1.26 versus $1.46).
  • The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and greatly underperformed compared to the Leisure Equipment & Products industry average. The net income has significantly decreased by 32.6% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from $331.84 million to $223.78 million.
  • You can view the full analysis from the report here: MAT

Any reference to TheStreet Ratings and its underlying recommendation does not reflect the opinion of Jim Cramer, TheStreet or any of its contributors.