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A Starbucks Takeover of Chipotle? 5 Milestones Show What Buying Into Hype Costs You.

Starbucks may be eyeing a Chipotle acquisition, but before getting swept up in the excitement, consider what every previous Starbucks headline moment actually delivered to investors who bought in on the news.

By Trey Thoelcke

Published October 9, 2026, 9:05am ET · 2 min read

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A cartoon Starbucks cup and Chipotle burrito shake hands on a winding path surrounded by financial growth charts and stacks of coins. — Coffee meets burritos in a multi-billion dollar rumor—but history suggests investors should check the receipt before buying into the hype. © 24/7 Wall St.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX | SBUX Price Prediction) reportedly explored buying Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG). The talks are early stage, and neither company has confirmed a deal. Chipotle stock jumped on the report, partly because Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol used to run Chipotle. However, here is what past excitement has cost Starbucks investors.

Each return runs from the closing price on the milestone date to Starbucks’ latest price of $93.21, with entry prices adjusted for splits and dividends. Each milestone is dated to the day the news reached the market.

Five Milestones, Five Very Different Paydays

October 2005: 10,000 Stores

Starbucks reached 10,000 stores and had a 2-for-1 stock split on October 24, 2005. A split leaves each holder’s stake the same size, so the store count is the milestone that matters. Entry (Oct. 3): $9.24 per share. A $1,000 investment then is now worth $10,092.88, a gain of 909.29%.

January 2008: Buying Into Fear

Schultz returned as CEO on January 8, 2008, amid falling same-store sales as the financial crisis hit. Entry: $7.28 per share. A $1,000 investment then is now worth $12,806.68, up 1,180.67%, the best result of the five.

March 2010: An Income Stock Is Born

Starbucks declared its first quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share on March 24, 2010. Entry: $9.27 per share. A $1,000 investment then is now worth $10,056.97, a gain of 905.70%. Payouts have since grown at a 17% compound annual rate.

December 2016: Schultz Hands Off to Johnson

Starbucks announced on December 1, 2016, that Kevin Johnson would succeed Schultz, effective April 3, 2017. Entry: $47.37 per share. A $1,000 investment then is now worth $1,967.81, up 96.78%.

August 2024: Paying Up for Niccol

Starbucks named Niccol board chair and chief executive on August 13, 2024, and said he would start September 9, 2024. Laxman Narasimhan, who had served as CEO after Johnson, stepped down that day. Shares rose 24% on the news, so anyone who bought the headline paid for the move. Entry: $90.61 per share. A $1,000 investment then is worth $1,028.75 now, or up just 2.87%.

Five Years of Going Nowhere

	Starbucks	S&P 500
Year to date	12.71%	13.49%
One year	19.45%	14.98%
Five years	−5.62%	76.75%
Ten years	117.01%	258.04%

S&P 500 figures use SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) price returns. Starbucks global comparable sales rose 7.9% last quarter.

Celebrated Headlines Have Been the Costly Entries

The two celebrated CEO entries returned 96.78% and 2.87%. The fearful 2008 entry returned 1,180.67%. Milestone headlines tend to report moves that are already priced in.

The bull case now is that margins expand as tariff refunds fade, and raised fiscal 2026 EPS guidance of $2.55 to $2.65 holds up. On the other hand, a costly deal adds to negative shareholders’ equity of $7.67 billion, with the stock at a P/E of 54. Watch whether deal talks advance and whether guidance holds.

Chasing a celebrated headline into a new high is exactly the move the last milestone punished. We wrote ten rules for doing it with guardrails in a free report: The Breakout Buyer’s Rulebook.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

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Trey Thoelcke

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.
Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community.
Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.
Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions.

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