UPDATE 3-Mattel posts lower profit on impact of recalls

(Adds analyst comment, details, stock action)

By Justin Grant

NEW YORK Oct 15 (Reuters) - Mattel Inc MAT.N posted a lower quarterly profit on Monday, missing Wall Street estimates, due to charges and disruptions from its recent global recalls of potentially harmful toys made in China.

The maker of Barbie dolls and the T.M.X Elmo said third-quarter profit fell to $236.8 million, or 61 cents a share, from $239 million, or 62 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding recall charges, Reuters Estimates said the company had earned 68 cents a share, compared with the average analysts' forecast of 70 cents.

Mattel, the world's largest toy company, recalled about 21 million toys earlier this year because of lead paint and hazards posed by small magnets. The company said the recalls resulted in a charge of about $40 million during the quarter and disrupted its supply chain.

"Excluding the effect of these costs and disruptions, results would have met or exceeded our estimate," Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Sean McGowan wrote in a research note.

McGowan, who has a "buy" investment rating on Mattel's stock, said he expected the recall-related disruptions to be limited to 2007, with the company showing strong sales and earnings growth next year.

Third-quarter sales climbed 3 percent to $1.84 billion. Analysts were expecting about $1.9 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.