What happened Shares of toy maker Funko (NASDAQ: FNKO) popped 17.5% in afternoon trading on the NASDAQ Friday, 12:40 p.m. EDT, in response to a big earnings beat announced last night. Heading into fiscal Q1 2021, analysts had predicted Funko would earn a pro forma profit of $0.11 per share on sales of $180.3 million. Funko beat that earnings estimate by a factor of two, however, reporting $0.24 per share in pro forma profit and sales of $189.2 million. Image source: Getty Images. So what Q1 sales surged 38% year over year at Funko, and the company grew its gross profit margin on those sales by 1 full percentage point to 41.4%. Net profit margins turned from negative to positive -- 5.9%. And on the bottom line, while profits weren't quite as good as the pro forma number highlighted, Funko earned a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) profit of $0.17 per diluted share -- versus last year's $0.12-PER-SHARE loss. Funko highlighted the strength of its sales both in the U.S., where sales grew 39%, and in Europe, where sales were up 55%. Now what This outstanding sales performance in Q1 encouraged management to predict similarly great results for the rest of this year. Over the course of 2021, Funko now says sales could grow anywhere from 33% to 38%. While management didn't give an estimate for GAAP earnings, it predicted that "adjusted earnings per diluted share" should range from $0.98 to $1.12. At the very least, that would guarantee that Funko hits analysts' earnings target of $0.98 for the year -- and the company could easily top that target as well. No wonder investors are pleased. 10 stocks we like better than Funko, Inc.When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Funko, Inc. wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of February 24, 2021 Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source